Sanctuary
by EnchantedKnights
Summary: It was a rash choice, one he could never take back. But did he regret it? No. No he didn't. He could never regret it. He had lost everything because of it, but he could get it back right? He would get it back. He would get his life back. AU. Mobiumshipping and more.
1. Chapter 1: Endings become new beginnings

**Title**: Sanctuary.  
**Rating**: M.  
**Genres**: AU; Alternate Universe, Angst, Tragedy, Romance, Humor, Supernatural.  
**Warnings**: Multiple character deaths, Violence, Sexual content, Mature language.  
**Main parings**: Mobiumshipping. (YxYYxPA) ,hinted Peachshipping. (AM X Y), and other various pairings.  
**Summary**: It was a rash choice, one he could never take back. But did he regret it? No. No he didn't. He could never regret it. He had lost everything because of it, but he could get it back right? He would get it back. He would get his life back.  
**Author's Rumble:** -sighs- I'm going to totally regret this, well... the first chapter. Enjoy.^^'

* * *

**Chapter I**  
**Endings become new beginnings.  
**

The way her perfect chocolate-brown hair fell to her shoulders and framed her heart-shaped face, which harbored her soft round luminous blue eyes, button-like nose, and plump light pink lips coated with a shimmering pink lip gloss; could drive Yugi Muto insane, had he not known Anzu Mazaki for over twelve years of his life. Instead, he admired his best friend from a distance. Compared to her height of Five feet and eight inches, Yugi was like her little brother, standing at only five feet and four inches. Damn his late growth spurts. If only he was a little taller, then maybe he could have been the one to have swept Anzu off her feet, rather than Ryuji Otogi.

"It looks like the rain is letting up. Do you think we can make it home from here?" A voice with the vocals of angel questioned Yugi, pulling him from his day dreams of being taller and his fantasies of a future with Anzu.

The sixteen year old male blinked his amethyst colored eyes twice, as his face warmed up with a crimson blush from being guilty of daydreaming about Anzu, who was standing directly next to him. It was a bad habit he needed to break himself of.

Yugi collected his jumbled up thoughts quickly as he looked out at the slowing rain fall.

"Mmm, maybe if we hurry." He told the girl, as he held out his hand into the rain. "Or we could wait it out." the short teen suggested.

Anzu thought their options over before shaking her head. " Let's go head and try to make it home, Otogi is waiting for me." She informed her best friend with an apologetic smile. "We have a date tonight. "

"O-Oh! Well then let's hurry and try to get you to him then. I'll escort you there." Yugi replied to her, giving the woman he loved a gentle smile. "We don't want Otogi to have to cancel the date because you got lost or injured." It wasn't like Yugi to let one of his close friends to just venture out alone, when he could have gone with them. It also saved him the worry of wondering if they made it to their destination safely.

Anzu laughed softly before ruffling Yugi's tri-colored hair of ebony, amethyst, and blonde. "You're always worrying over me Yugi, it's like your my brother, or better yet, my mother!"

Yugi groaned at that statement and stepped away from Anzu, fixing his seven spike and the bangs that framed his face. "Geez, I'm just worrying." He sighed and gave the brown-haired girl a childish pout. "Can't a guy look out for his clumsy friend?"

" I am not clumsy!" Anzu protested, stomping his her foot and putting her hands on her hips. Her eyebrows scrunched together while she pursed her lips. Such an expression caused Yugi to laugh and walk ahead of her, leaving their dry shelter.

"Says the person who trips, and falls over while putting on their shoes!" He called back to the woman of his dreams as he walked ahead. Yugi heard the sound of feet splashing against the wet ground behind him. He paused looking back over his shoulder, just as Anzu caught up to him. She raised up her hand and hit the back of his head lightly.

"Yugi, it's not polite to taunt a girl." She scowled her friend, trying to act serious before she bellowed out in laughter and started to walk ahead of her closest friend. The teenage boy shook his head laughing, as he rubbed the spot where Anzu had struck him lightly.

"I know, I know; but this you we're talking about." He told his friend catching up with her. "If anything, it's excused." He said happily as they walked.

Anzu rolled her blue eyes, though she wore a bright smile. "Of course, on the exception I get to make fun of you as well." She teased the short male. Yugi smiled and simply shook his head.

The heavy rain had turned into just a light drizzle, with barely any droplets of water falling out of the gloomy gray sky. Anzu and Yugi had slowed their walk down, enjoying the company each other. They spoke of their graduation just a few months away, hard to believe it was already their senior year and just half way into their first trimester. They also talked about Anzu's dream. She notified Yugi that she had almost collected enough money for a trip to the Americas, to New York City. There she would attempt to land a career as a choreographer, hopefully working with Broadway producers. Of course that would be after she went to college and obtained a degree in the art.

The two friends also talked about Yugi's future after high school, but the young man hadn't sorted out what he wanted to do as of yet. He thought of just working a part-time job at his grandfather's game store, while attending classes at Domino University. Though what classes he wanted to take was questionable at the moment.

A soft sigh came from Anzu just shortly after their conversation of futures, causing Yugi to look up at his friend with worry. "Is something wrong Anzu?" He asked his concern already seeping through his calm voice.

"It's nothing to be worried over." She replied immediately. "It's just... my school bag seems to be a little worn. The handles are coming undone." She lifted the bag up to show Yugi, who nodded in agreement.

"Maybe you should replace it? Have you talked to your mother about it?"

"No, not yet, I'll ask her about getting a new one, when I get - AH!" Just as they started to cross a railway crossing, Anzu's student bag fell apart and dropped to the ground.

The dainty male paused his mid-stride to help his 'crush' pick up her things. "Well now you have to get a new one." Yugi giggled softly as he collected some of Anzu's papers before they were ruined by the wet weather.

A soft snort came from the beautiful brown-haired girl as she tucked a strained of her wet chocolate-colored hair behind her ear. "Yeah, no kidd-" Warning bells of train-crossing started screeching, along with its lights flashing and the gate arm started to close down; had interrupted Anzu.

Yugi was the first to act, hurrying to gather anything he could in his arms before standing up. "Come on Anzu!" The loud whistle of a passenger-train could be heard over his voice as well as its headlights could be seen.

Anzu quickly gather her pens, pencils, and other materials as fast as she could. However, Yugi was multiple steps ahead of her. He had already crossed the tracks and was about to duck under the safety arm. Had he not spotted his best friend still trying together her things, he would have been safely out of the train's path. Yet when he saw how Anzu was struggling to get the rest of her things, the seventeen year old male panicked. He quickly dropped the items he had in his arms to help Anzu get the rest of her items.

Everything was happening so fast, that time felt like it was slowing down. The wailing of the warning bells became drown out as the train attempted to slow down when the conductor spotted the teens on the tracks from his window. He blew his whistles just as the headlights of the passenger train started to illuminate Anzu and Yugi's soaked forms. Wheel screeched trying to break, but it was too late. It was too close to them to avoid the young friends.

It was a split second decision. He had no time to think, just do. Yugi used all the strength, courage and bravery he had, to push Anzu out of the path of the train, even if it as just a few inches away from the tracks. She was still out of harms way. Next he focused on attempting to get to her side, to get to safety. Yugi knew within just a second it was too late for him. He watched as Anzu stumbled away from the tracks and snapped her head over her shoulder to look at him. Her beautiful face was soaked; covered with streaks of water from the rain, pieces of her hair clung to her cheeks, and her beautiful blue eyes were red and puffy.

"YU-" The whistle of the train masked Anzu's voice, along with the force of being slammed into by the two-hundred-eighty-nine, thousand pound train.

* * *

He wanted to scream, but he couldn't. There was a horrible unbearable pain, but for only a second. Then there was silence and darkness. He could not hear the squealing of breaks anymore, nor could he see Anzu's beautiful face. He felt lighter like all of his doubts and worries had just been eased. He oddly felt at peace, despite just being hit by a train, and becoming the headliner for tonight's news program. Such an odd feeling. Yet at the same time, he felt nothing at all.

Even though the deadly accident had just occurred not even a few seconds ago, Yugi felt like it happened many, many years ago. It was fuzzy to him, even though he was known for his good memory; he could hardly even remember what the whistle of the train sounded like. He felt his mind seep into the rather calming darkness, the teenager was in bliss as his mind became unfocused.

That bliss feeling of just pure nothingness as he floated in the vast empty space, disappeared rather quickly as the young man was floating out of his dark relaxed state and into one of warmth and enlightening.  
_'What... is... this...?'_

Where was he? What was that? Who was that woman smiling down on him with long auburn colored hair and gentle gray eyes?

"Yugi~ My sweet little boy, what's that you have in your hand?" Ah, now he knew, that beautiful voice was his calm and caring mother. Her round doe-eyes closed when she smiled brightly and picked the young boy up.

"Now, now, give Momma Papa's card back. I know how you like to hold on to it, but you don't want to tear do it?" The boy shook his small head quickly, and handed his mother the card.

"Take rweally, good care wove it. It's daddy's Wark Wagician!* "He told his mother in a high-pitched gentle voice.

In his conscience, the boy was aware of everything going on. This wasn't some creepy dream where he was young child and his mother was nearly a decade younger; it was one of his earliest memory. One with his father in it. Speaking of that man-

"Chiyo? Yugi? I'm home. " The familiar soft voice called to him and his mother in the distance.

Yugi's younger self squirmed in his mother's arms, until he was put down by the woman. "Daddy! Daddy!" He called out excitedly rushing over to the taller male, and hugged his father's leg lovingly.

A soft chuckle came from his father, as he was picked up. He also heard the faint giggling of his mother. "Did you have a good day at work, Hakuba?" Yugi's mother's lovely voice always seemed to be brighter and more cheerful around his father. It always puzzled him, but now looking back at it; he now understood why. It was a sign of love.

"It was well, busy as always-"

"Daddy, Daddy! Can we drool? Can we drool?* " The three and a half-year old Yugi interrupted his father, asking him to 'duel' with him.

Yugi's mother pouted and popped Yugi's nose lightly. "Yugi, let your father rest. He's been working all day. If you be a good boy for him, then I'll think about letting you go visit Anzu tomorrow. "

The small boy released a whine, as his bottom lip trembled. A small warning sign of the threatening tears to come. Yugi's father sighed and ruffled his son's hair. "Fine. If that's what you want I'll have a duel with you. But one only, you understand my little man?"

A bright smile appeared on the tri-colored toddler's face as he hugged his father's neck. "Twank you, twank you, twank you Daddy!* ~" The boy cheered happily, causing his father to laugh.

The scene slowly started to fade from Yugi's mind, leaving his chest with a funny warm like feeling. He had nearly forgotten what it was like hearing his mother's and father's voice, and how it felt to be held close by both of them. A faint smile pulled at Yugi's cold lips as he returned to that odd sensation of floating in utter darkness.

It felt like millenniums had passed by him. The silence of sheer nothingness had an odd effect of making time slow down to where a minute felt like it took ten years to pass. Slowly another odd enlightening sensation flow through his body. Though it wasn't quite like the fist time... The warmth the feeling brought last time, had grown cold. Sniffling could be heard, along with muffled cries of 'Why..?'

As the scene developed Yugi instantly tried to go back to the darkness that had surrounded him from before. He did not have to wait for the blurry images to become clear. Yugi already knew that this was not something he want to go through a second time. Unfortunately, his memories had other plans as they forced their way into his mind.

Painful loud cries of agony, rang in his ears. The young boy of only five years of age, opened his door slight to peek his head out to see who was 'crying'.

"Why?! Why?! Why?! WHY!?"  
A loud thud came from down the hall in the living-room of his small home.

Yugi slowly exited his room, as fear pulsed through his tiny body. Something felt off with each step he took. A heavy feeling settled in his chest when he peered around the corner of the hallway and the family-room of his home. His five year-old self with amethyst eyes widened to the extreme, spotted his mother crumbled on the floor in front of their front door, with a police officer who had a grim look on his face.

"Momma?" Yugi's voice cracked as he stumbled toward his sobbing mother.

"No, no, no... Please... Please come back to me! To us, Hakuba! " The female with long auburn hair pleaded.

A feeling that was a mixture of worry, fear, and despair filled the boy's heart as he knelt down next to his upset mother. "Momma, what's wrong? Shhh, shhh; don't cry. Big kids don't cry, remember?"

His innocent eyes looked up at the police officer as the male knelt down next to him and his mother. "Son, at time like these... Big kids should cry... "The officer held his hand out for Yugi's mother to take, helping her to the couch, as another officer entered; one that was female.

The boy looked confused and troubled over the matter, as the female officer closed their entry door and escorted him to his weeping mother's side.

"Hakuba... My sweet Hakuba..." He heard his mother's muffled cries that were released into a pillows she was currently clenching to her chest.

"Why is my Momma crying? Why is she calling for Dad?" He asked absent-mindedly and moved closer to his mother and hugged her, offering sweet ignorant comfort. "Momma, Yugi's right here. I'm a big boy like Dad, so I'll be here for you."

With no warning Yugi's mother latched onto him, pulling him close into her bosom and hiding her face into his oddly soft multi-colored spiked hair. "...I...I'm sorry my sweet little boy. I'm so.. so sorry." She cooed, swaying slightly from side to side with the young lad in her arms.

Yugi wrapped his arms around his mother 'protective like', while the police officers watched in silences, waiting for them well, for Yugi's mother to be calm. Eventually she calmed her tears, but not the sea of despair in her soul as she looked up at the two carriers of bad news.

"How? Just how did he die? I... He was perfectly happy and healthy this morning!"

Die? Someone had died? Who? Who died-... The moment of realization hit the young boy hard. It turned the officers replies and his mother's hoarse questions into just faint background noise, while his thoughts and emotions created a typhoon inside his fragile soul. The feeling of sudden emptiness and loneliness passed through him, while all comforting warmth left him.

"Dad...Dad is gone?... H-He left...us?" Yugi's words were cracked as he forced him to interrupt the adults depressing conversation. Tears cascaded down his reddening cheeks, while he started to sniffle his clogged up hiccups turned into full-blown wailing as he screamed and pleaded for his father to come home.

His mother and the police fell silent, startled by Yugi's sudden outburst of sorrow. His mother's own tears started to fall again, as she pulled her baby boy closer and rocked with him in her arms to calm him as well, as herself. "It's okay... It's okay sweetie. He just.. just went to...to heaven early, that's all." She desperately tried to calm her son down.

The scene became foggy before clearing up a few moments later with a different scene, another bad memory from his father's passing. His funeral. The teen could hardly bear these upsetting memories from his past. It made him question why he was even remembering this, at this very moment in time.

Yugi remember putting on the emotionless poker face, avoiding all eye-contact, all interactions with people other than his mother. He remembered kept his glued to the floor, not even wanting to look at the latest photo of his deceased father. He didn't want to cry in front of so many strangers, friends, and family. He couldn't cry, he wouldn't cry. No matter how hard it was, he would wait till he was completely alone to release those tears.

Finally, the horrible reminder was over. Even though he couldn't hardly focus his disoriented mind, Yugi attempted to control his overloading emotions. He fought the stinging tears in his eyes, the sniffling of his nose, and the soft hiccups he had.

_'Get it together Muto! It's in the past... What would everyone say if you woke up crying over something nearly twelve years ago?'_

The seventeen year-old managed to calm himself down by taking a few deep breaths, or what felt like a deep breaths. He allowed his mind to slowly go blank as he recalled the empty world around him.

He began to wonder about Anzu, the girl he loved. Yugi smiled to himself, a soft goofy grin of love-struck. The more he thought about her looks, personality, the moments they had shared; the wider it grew. He wonder if the giddy feeling he was feeling was actually love, or some weird fetish he had developed over the years he had known the female. When he thought of it that way, he felt like an old pervert; like his grandfather. He would have to ask his grandfather about that when he woke up.

The young man felt a stab in his chest when he thought of his grandfather and 'waking up'. What if he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon? After all he was hit by train, and a fast paced passenger train at that. The male pursed his lips, well at least he thought he did. His body was too numb to tell what he was actually doing. His heart sank deeper, and deeper into the darkness as he started to recall his last thoughts before this... this black out.

No, he didn't regret what he did. His unintentional 'suicide', was something he actually felt rather proud of. He saved a life, he saved a life that was one of the most important ones to him. The life of the girl he loved. So no way was he regretting it. But what he did regret, was not doing the simple things that he could have done earlier that day.

He should have told his mother and grandfather bye, despite having toast shoved in his mouth from running late that morning. He could have agreed to hanging out with his friends, Honda and Ryuzaki. Even though she was already dating Otogi, Yugi wished he had confessed his one-sided attraction to Anzu. So he could at least have some closure to this, even in his death. Maybe he should have practice running a bit more. If he was a bit faster he could have moved quicker and gotten himself to safety. There was so many "if's", "could's", "should have's", and "wishes" that filled his mind. Just so many things he could have done differently to avoid him being here in this.. lonesome place. Hopefully, this was just a dream and he would wake up soon to his mother shaking him and telling his sleepy form he was late for school.

* * *

Amazingly, Yugi start to become aware of the things 'outside' this dark and lonely world he was in. It was an odd sensation he felt, as his body slowly started to lose the numbness feeling he felt for what Yugi thought, had been ten billion years. He was so relieved that he could now tell where his fingers and toes were. But that wasn't the only thing new, he felt the breeze of strong wind gusts, along with the smell of...saltwater?

How was he at the beach, on the other side of town? Didn't he just get killed, or fatally injured?

This didn't make sense to Yugi as he thought over these new sudden freedom. He continued to think harder and harder about his situation. As a result, he failed to notice the extra weight sitting upon his hips, or the fact that he could move, and open his eyes again.

"Hey...Hey kid, wake up." A female voice called out to Yugi, followed by pokes to his round cheeks, which annoyed him.

Thinking the person would leave him alone if pretended to be 'asleep' or well.. 'dead' in this case, Yugi remained perfectly still. He heard a huff, which made him think the person (who he was now aware of) sitting on his waist, would leave him be. Too bad he was wrong.

"Oh for the love of the living! You're not in purgatory* anymore so, wake up you idiot!" The voice suddenly snapped, before Yugi's body was suddenly assaulted by pokes that felt like jabs to his sides, cheeks, and stomach.

Unable to bear this treatment that assaulted him with a ticklish sensation, Yugi squirmed under his attacker's attacks trying to avoid them. "Okay! Okay! I-I'll get up!" He answered opening his eyes slightly, adjusting to the bright light that threatened to blind him.

He half expected to see Anzu on his hips keeping him down as she poked him, when he opened his large amethyst eyes. Well, that was what wanted it to be. Unfortunately what he got was a bright blonde haired girl, that appeared to be just fifteen, maybe fourteen; sitting on him with annoyed expression. Her eyes were a gray-blue in color, hidden behind half framed glasses. A few freckles could be seen on her round cheeks, if one looked closely. But it was the girl's apparel the made Yugi blink and blush slightly. Her small body was dressed in a pure white dress and on her back, where two small feather wings. His amethyst eyes narrowed as he focused on her wings solely.

This had to be a dream inside of a dream. And it was one messed up double-dream.

"...Why are you staring at me like that? Are you some kind of pervert!? Get up, NOW!" The female's voice snapped at him loudly, causing his eardrums to ring from her high-pitched yelling.

Yugi felt a bead of sweet dropped the side of his face from the girl's command. "You're sort of making that difficult at the moment, by sitting on me."

The blonde haired girl huffed as she stood and moved a step back from Yugi, as extra precaution from him looking up her dress. He was in her mind after all, a perverted client. "Better?"

"Y-Yeah. Thanks." Yugi said, giving her his soft smile as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He allowed his eyes wander around him, taking in his surroundings. He had a strange feeling about this place. Strange orbs of light that reminded him of falling snow, were drifting upwards slowly; unnaturally. He also notice he was sitting on water; without falling in or getting wet. Yugi could only feel the cold sensation that radiated from it. Also it happened to be reflecting the daytime yet when looked above, the sky was pitch black with star-clusters forming the milky-way. A nighttime view like this, was such a rare sight in Domino. So rare, it was distracting Yugi from the girl who was trying to speak to him.

" -And you're not listening to me are you?"  
"Huh?" Yugi blinked, breaking away from his second love to gaze at the younger child.

A loud groan came from the girl, followed by a face-palm that caused the teenage boy to feel slightly guilty for zoning out. "A-Ah, I'm sorry. I was star-gazing briefly for the moment. W-What were you telling me again?" His voice sounded innocent as normal, while he stuttered out his apology.

A sigh came from the odd girl as she removed her face from her hand, pushed he glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. " I was explaining to you who I was, and where you are. " She replied to him, giving Yugi a cold glare.

The male shivered from the frightful look before sitting up better and crossing his legs. " O-Oh! Well then please do continue!"

A smile formed on the girl's face. " Yugi Muto, this is the world of 'judgement'. The world known as 'Limbo'. And I, Rebecca Hopkins, am here to give you your judgement."

A moment of silence passed by them. Yugi had dropped his gaze from the girl, allowing his head to hang down so his bangs covered his childish face. It stayed like this until soft chuckling came from the boy. Rebecca blinked, making a silent 'Huh?' sound as Yugi's laughter grew louder. To the female, it sounded sad and some what forced.

"Ah-haha. T-This is sure one of the most messed up dreams I've had in a while!" He said out loud, rubbing the back of his head and flash a wide toothy grin at the girl in white, just like the little goof ball he always was.

"You think... You think this is just a dream? Why?!" Her voice sounded serious, even thought it had cracked a tiny bit.

"Huh?" Yugi opened his eyes at the female, tilting his head to the side confused by her words. "Why? Because it is. I'm sure I'll open my eyes to see either Mom, or Anzu shaking me wake. I'm sure this is just a 'bad dream' from me drinking too much mil-"

"Are you serious?! Kid, wake up and smell the roses on your grave! This isn't some kind of sick and messed up dream. This is real and you-" She pointed one of her small index fingers at Yugi."You, are dead."

His breath was stuck deep within his throat. Her words...why couldn't she just let him fake his ignorance? Like he did for most of his life? Yugi clenched his teeth together as he dared to look up at Rebecca's cold gaze. Her gray-blue eyes seemed like dangerous ice crystals stabbing at his soul.

"No. I' not-"

"Well if you don't believe me then take a look at this!" Her pale index finger pointed up at the night sky.

Gulping, Yugi looked up in the direction she was pointing. His eyes doubled in size as he witness the stars swirling together, forming a massive circle of light that was projecting him and Anzu trying to pick up the items that had split out of her school bag.

_' At the sight of Anzu still struggling, 'he' quickly dropped the items he had in his arms at the time to rush to his 'important' person. Bells, flashing lights, screeching wheels, and a sound of a whistle echoed in the rain as the passenger train attempted to slow down to give time for the young friends to escape danger. Yet they still wasted time trying to get the items off the track._

_'He' peered over his shoulder spotting the train just a mere few seconds away. Out of options and with only one thing on his mind, the 'he' pushed the girl off the tracks. Anzu had recovered from the push, quickly and spun around. 'He' made an attempted to spare his own life, but it ended in failure._

_"YUGI!" Anzu's painful screaming was even louder than the train and the warning bells themselves. Her voice though, did not reach him. The train struck his body and the impact practically shattered every bone in his body. An instant kill from his neck being snapped and ribs diggin into his heart and lungs. The train forced the teen's body under it, where the wheels took their time as it slowed to torment him. Blood covered the rusted meal and ground, but the rain soon washed it away. Some of it was pooling at Anzu's feet._

_Screaming, so much painful screaming filled the streets. Her body shook like an earthquake. Her blue eyes widened with fear, and a hands clawed at her chest. She was paralyzed, frozen in place staring at the stopped train, that was covered in her best friend's blood. She had just witnessed a death of one of her most 'important' people. '_

The stars that had gather exploded, returning to their original spots. With the torture put to an end, Yugi fell forward, landing on his knees. His face masked by the shadow from his bangs.

Rebecca's face was softer as she slowly approached the male on his knees. She said nothing to comfort him. She simple placed a hand on his head, threaded in his tri-colored locks; waiting for him to let it go, and be become somewhat stable.

Tears fell from his face as if Yugi had endless supplies of the salt-water solution. His body trembled from his cries and pleas for a another chance. A second chance of setting things right. He screamed, bit his tongue, and isolated himself from Rebecca's comforting hand. He knew he was dead, but he falsely lied to him for the sake of remaining sane. But now? Well his option of having a blissful sanity of ignorance, was long gone. Shattered by the cruel reality.

Seconds flowed into minutes, and minutes cascaded into just a little bit over an hour before Yugi had calmed down his crying. But it didn't mean he was over his death, it just meant he had no energy to cry about it. He would never be over this, he could never forget it. Why? Why did he find it so peaceful back then? What was blissful about being dead and surrounded by nothing? Nothing should be blissful, pleasurable, or peaceful about his death. He was hit by a fucking train! In front of his best friend, the only girl he loved, and the only person he would love.(Excluding his family.)

His mind was in turmoil as his hands rose to his temples and started to squeeze his head, attempting to make all this... to make everything go away.

A soft flicked to his nose made Yugi freeze, and open his eyes that he hadn't known he had closed. In front of him was Rebecca, squatting so their faces were the same level. Her glasses were gone, folded up and held in one of her hands so her gray-blue eyes were fully exposed. She watched him with a gaze that showed not pity or sympathy, but one of empathy.

"Your death, was not supposed to happen. It was a..." She paused looking down regretful."-a miss calculation in our 'network', Yugi. Nothing is worth more than a life, I...we know that the best." She slowly stood up, turning her back to the male.

For the first time, Yugi saw the blonde haired girl's wings fully. He said nothing as he looked at them. When he first saw them he thought they were white, but the wings were actually a very light gray. "I can not give your life back to you, but I can give you some sort of life. Since you have died before your time, you can not be sent to Heaven or Hell and if you stay here, your soul and the memories of you will slowly start disappearing. So instead, I will grant you a life of despair. Doomed to never be judge and to never go to your afterlife."

Yugi slowly stood up on to his feet, although his legs shook and threatened to give out on him. "Never to be judged? Never to go to my after life... But t-this is my 'afterlife.'"

Rebecca turned around to see the disheartened look on Yugi's face. She felt a tug at her heart as she took in his sad smile. "So you accept this then? If so, you'll become one of us, a 'Shinigami'; a death god."

Yugi took an unsteady breath, before giving Rebecca soft gaze with a firm nod. " I do. If... If I become a 'death god' then.. then." His smile became confident as a spark of light became present in his dull amethyst eyes. "Then perhaps I can see my family and friends again, and watch over them while I guide the souls."

Rebecca gave hims a smile of her own, but it seemed to be rather...melancholy. "Perhaps."She replied. " But let's not get too carried away, first we need to get you to home base- err, I mean 'Sanctuary'. "

Yugi pursed his lips, not comprehending Rebecca's words. " Home base? Sanctuary? What's that?"  
A soft chuckle came from the female shinigami, as she flicked her wrist away from her and Yugi creating a swirling vortex of purple matter, that appeared to be a portal of some kind. "Well to put it in simple words, it shall be your 'home'. Currently there is about One-thousand-twenty-nine, well thirty now; shinigami living there. It's 'our' home. It offers comfort and support for most, also a warm bed, food, and social interactions. " The female seemed to have a 'happy' aura around her when she spoke about 'Sanctuary.'

"I'm sure you'll love it, so c'mon. No need to stay here and rot away like our corpses." She giggled moving towards the swirling portal of purple matter, however Yugi didn't budge from his spot. Rebecca notice this and paused her movements. "Too soon?"

Yugi simply nodded and moved towards her with a smile and fighting back another round of tears. "Yeah. Way too soon. "

She sighed and took his wrist in her hand, pulling Yugi closer who seemed completely shocked by this action. "Sorry." Without another word, Rebecca stepped into the portal, tugging Yugi with her.

* * *

**Author's Ramble**: Ah-hem. Like I said, I regret going ahead and having him well die. ^^'  
Though I do hope you guys weren't too, um well...angry with me on this but trust me, things get a little brighter and have a bit of joy to them. :')  
Please excuse any grammar,spelling, or other issues. I'm posting this rather late at night. I will look it back over later.

I hope you guys R&amp; R ~

**Meanings of phrases, terms, and words**.-

Take rweally, good care wove it. It's daddy's Wark Wagician!* - Take really good care of it. It's Daddy's Dark Magician!

Daddy, Daddy! Can we drool? Can we drool?*- Daddy, Daddy! Can we duel? Can we duel?

Twank you, twank you, twank you Daddy!* - Thank you, thank you, thank you Daddy!

Purgatory* - An enternal waiting room for reikon who awaits for its proper funeral and rites to be performed and completed.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome Home

**Chapter II  
"Welcome Home"**

All Yugi could remember after Rebecca had pulled him into the portal with her, was just the warmth that engulfed his body afterward. It wasn't the 'unpleasant warmth' that one gets from staying out in the sun too long , or from being too close to an open fire. It was the pleasant warmth one received from the comfort of family and friends, it was like the warmth he felt around Anzu. It started in his chest, then seeped to other parts of his body. It made wiggle his toes and have that goofy grin one gets when they think of their lover. It was that kind of warmth.

He wished he could experience it again and for longer . The warmth that had encased his body for just a split millisecond, reminded him of the fun moments with his crush, family, and friends. It was like he was back home for that small instant in time.

But he wasn't back home, in his reality. Yugi was left cold, deprived from the warmth he desired, and sitting on a wooden stool inside a busy office.

Unknown faces whizzed by with papers, packages, and coffee. If he didn't know better, he would figured he was in Kaiba corp's news room. A sigh escaped Yugi's lips as he let his head drop to look down at his attire. The moment he had arrived here, Rebecca had practically dragged him to this 'bee-hive' and pushed in him into the care of a female called 'Mai'.

Mai was nice, caring like a mother, but sassy and obsessed with appearances. Which is why he now longer sported his school uniform. He didn't think there was a problem with how he was dressed, although his jacket was shredded, a few holes in his slacks exposed his pale legs, and the light coating of blood on nearly every part of the uniform. Nope, there was nothing wrong with it, other than being a 'bit' dirty. Even though he was content on staying dressed as he was, Mai had forced him to change into something 'presentable'. So here he was, covered from head to toe in articles of white clothing. He had a white short-sleeved polo on, along with a pair of white shorts and stockings to cover his feet. He would have had shoes, but Mai couldn't find his 'size'.  
...Again, curse his lack of growth spurts when he was alive.

The seventeen year-old hated the outfit he had on with a passion of ten-billion burning suns. It made him look like a small child, which Rebecca had pointed out to him before she disappeared to finish her 'work'. Leaving him at the mercy of Mai, who was gathering his 'information', and enrolling him into their system. Who would have guessed shinigami's had elaborate systems of doing things. In Yugi's mind it was much like sitting in a school office and enrolling into their classes. Such a nolgastic feeling it was.

Yugi sat on the wooden stool impatiently, waiting for Mai to hurry up with this 'enrolling' process. He kicked his feet in the air with a small pout on his face. Normally if this was some who he was close with, he would wouldn't be as quiet as he was. Just silently sulking, wasn't something that the impatient boy did a lot. He remembered how Anzu used to tease him a lot about how his complexion must have some influence on him, since his patience was like a child's; short and demanding at times. Though she also said it was 'cute' how he complained about being late, or bored. Memories like this, truly made him miss her. So why? Why did he have to-

_'No! Don't think about it! Don't. Think. About. That. You can't afford to lose it in front of so many people who you don't know. Get it together, block it out. Deal with it later-'_

" -ack...Is something wrong kid?" Yugi looked up, when he heard a voice questioning him. His amethyst eyes immediately recognized it was Mai who standing in front of him. Anyone could easily recognize her with her long platinum blonde hair, flawless light tan skin, stunning sharp purple eyes, and her massive bust size of a 'double D', maybe even an 'E'. Her outfit seemed to show off her curves ...a lot. Her dark purple vest clung perfectly to he torso, while a white tank top covered her cleavage. A black pair of short shorts seemed to bring out the shape her bum, and to top it off; she had a pair of purple high-heel boots dawning her feet and long legs.

Yugi didn't realize he had been checking the woman out until she placed the back of her hand against his forehead. " You're a weird one, you know that?" Her proud tone informed the new shinigami, with a soft chuckle. Yugi crimsoned, feeling embarrassed by his actions. Obviously the proud woman knew he was 'looking' but thankfully, she had kept quiet about it.

"S-Sorry." He apologized stuttering slightly under the pressure from Mai's intimidating gaze.

The mature woman's lips coated with a plum brown shimmering lip gloss, tugged into a small smile. She laughed at Yugi's innocence, and patted his head like she was an older sister. " It's okay, I would be more concerned if you weren't looking!" She teased and gave him a heart warming smile.

Yugi attempted to smile back, but it was weak. He was slightly disgusted with himself for having checked out Mai like he did when Anzu wore her bikini in the summer time. It made him sick to his stomach. Although, he did admit Mai did have a body of a playboy bunny. He couldn't help but wonder if she was one in her past life.

Said blonde female let out a sigh and ran one of her hands through her flawless hair. " Alright, change of subject. " She announced to Yugi, who perked up, blinking his large amethyst eyes curiously. " I'm sure 'Beca', didn't give you and information other than something rather... cliché." Mai told the boy, earning a nod from him.

"She said Shinigami are 'death gods' and this... is 'Sanctuary' ?" He tilted his head at Mai as she moved beside him to lean against the wall and cross her arms over her bosom.

"Well, at least it wasn't that bad this time.." She said to her self chuckling, earning a rather confused look from Yugi. " You see, Rebecca has funny way of... sugar-coating what 'we' are. Us Shinigami aren't gods or angels. We are reikon* who have died before our 'condemn' death. Instead of following our fate, we were deprived of it. "

Yugi folded his hands in his lap while his eyebrows scrunched together as he thought over Mai's words. He gave her no answer so she continued on.

"We all have a beginning and an end. We have highs and our lows, our time of 'prime' and then our falls. Every beginning and ending, is fated to happen a certain way, this we call destiny, or predestination. When one has broken that 'destiny' most likely by death, then they become a shinigami. "

"So basically, if a person commits suicide they become a Shinigami? But I . . .It wasn't like that for me. . ." Yugi fought with himself to keep 'in control', trying not to let his 'dam' that he was working on to burst before he was ready.

" No not always, there is actually several ways that one can die 'unexpectedly' or before it's their time. " She informed Yugi with a sadden smile. "I'll give you a better explanation. Shinigami are born when a person has died unexpectedly or before they are fated to; before their time is 'up'. It can be from intentional or unintentional suicide, sacrifice, or murder. Suicide... you could use Rebecca as an example. She did intentionally kill herself, but I won't go into details. That's her story to share. A sacrifice, would be you. Yugi you saved the life of your friend, but lost your own life as result. You exchanged your life for hers. " Mai paused to take a deep breath, and check on Yugi. Surprisingly he was 'okay.' He had a dishearten look on his gentle face other than that, he was fine.

"Then there is murder. Some murders are planned, some aren't they just. . .happen. " Yugi looked up when he heard Mai's voice crack. She was tense, her hands balled into fist so tight, her knuckles were nearly as white as his clothes.

"M-Murders that happen out of anger, jealousy, hatred, pity. Many of us are victims of it; like myself. " Silence fell over the two. Only the buzzing of busy workers, the hums of printers and copy machines kept it from going deathly silent. Yugi was the one who first broke the silence, want to move on so neither of them had to rub salt in their wounds.

" What do we do? As Shinigami of course. I know the old folktales about Shinigami, but I highly doubt they are similar. So. . I'm kind of eager to learn." Yugi sounded rather excited, and he faked a smile as he kicked his feet in the air.

Mai released a wispy laugh and flashed him an amused smirk. "Actually, those old stories pretty much say it all, beside a few minor details of course." She unfolded her arms and placed her hands behind her back while staring up at the ceiling. " See we actually do collect souls. We guide the souls of the dearly departed through purgatory, calm them, give them peace. Unlike what the stories say, we do not bring one's death, we only _ensure_ that they die on the day they are fated to move on. We work under Madam Horakhty, Angel of life. She decides and approves the date one's life should be born, and when it shall end. With that said, we do not only 'bring death' but we bring 'life'. A newborn does not cry because of it's airways have been finally cleared, it cries because it has been given a soul. A life. We deliver a soul from her feathers to their destined bodies. We also fight Onmyouji* but that shall be explained later. I highly doubt You'll meet one anytime soon, anyways."

The blonde haired female released a yawn after she finished and stretched out her arms over her head, before moving away from the wall to grab a thick light brown envelope from a nearby desk with the words, 'CONFIDENTIAL. MUTO YUGI' in bold print. "That's all for now, you'll find out the rest by reading the hand book when we get to your room. " Yugi nodded then stood up from the stool he was perched on.

"Thank you for clearing some of the questions in my head Mai, though it caused a few more have aroused to take their place. " He told her with a nervous chuckled.

The blonde smiled and rolled her eyes. " Ask away kid, just don't ask pointless and stupid questions. But hold off until after I give you the grand tour. " She said with a slight proud mocking tone to her lovely voice.

Yugi blinked, folding his arms behind his back as he looked up at Mai. "Grand tour? Of what?" He asked sound intrigued by her commandment.

The taller of the two gave Yugi a 'are you serious' look, before she used the thick envelope to his the top of his head. Yugi winced and stumbled backwards as his hands went up to the top of his head to nurse and protect his injured head. His checks became tinted pink, tears threatened to fall from the corners of his eyes. "H-Hey that hurt!"

Mai tsked and rolled her eyes. " Oh grow up. " She huffed and started to walk ahead of Yugi. "Let's go kid, so I can show you the campus and layout of out new home."

Pouting, Yugi reluctantly followed the rude woman. He really was starting to dislike her rude ways.

* * *

There was so much to take in but so little time to do so as Mai dragged Yugi with her, all while she bounced from place to place in Sanctuary. They had started in the beautiful gardens just outside the building Yugi had arrived in with Rebecca. Mai called the building H.Q., the head quarters of Sanctuary. No one got in or out of the 'utopia' with out going through H.Q. first. Well, at least that was what Mai had told him.

Despite the chaos inside the building of busy workers, The garden outside busy head quarters was the complete opposite. Unlike the messy, loud, and obnoxious H.Q.; the gardens was a stunning pleasant sight to see. From the lush green grass to the elegant flower beds of every bright vibrant colors imaginable, Yugi had felt a warm peaceful sensation flow over him. Sadly he didn't get to fully experience it as Mai had pulled him by his ear to other 'important' buildings in Sanctuary.

They covered everything, literally everything. Mai had showed him everything Sanctuary had to offer from shopping , training , housing, recreational districts; to the 'employment' areas. They explored every building's layout, hallways, and even the rooms! Yugi had never truly such a detailed tour in his life on 'Earth', and the tour the platinum blonde had given him left poor Yugi exhausted. Even though he had become winded from the experience, he gratefully appreciated it. Although he was still bounded to get lost in such a huge landscape; the tour had kept his mind busy and from wandering off to things he did not wish to think about.

Their tour had ended at what Mai call the food district, or the cafés. Restaurants were lined up next to each other one by one, down a wide street. The offered varieties of seating options and foods from all over the world. A few caught the young male's eyes tempting him to try them, but he was deny the choice to do so as Mai continued to pull him by his wrist.

"Wah! H-Hey I wanted to go to the-"  
" I've already made arrangements for us, 'dear.' You wouldn't want to make me disappointed by arranging a special dinner in your honor, now would you?" Yugi trembled from the smile on Mai's face. He could tell it was forced as the air became thick with tension radiating from the female.

"N-No!" His voice went up an octave, while beads of sweat poured nervously down his forehead. Mai's violet eyes glared at him, with a demanding demeanor. There was no way a people-pleasing guy like Yugi, could challenge that stare.

"Oh good! Then we'll hurry to Burger world, there's a few people I want you to meet are waiting for us there." It completely baffled Yugi how the woman's character could change in such a short time from a sinister harpy, to an innocent angel. It struck fear into his heart.

By the time the two had reached 'Burger World'( which Yugi absolutely thrilled to be going to), the 'new guy' was already out of breath from struggling to keep up with his escort. His wrist was aching from her long polished nails digging lightly into his soft flesh. When the 'harpy' finally released him from her grasp Yugi instantly went to nurse his wrist. He mumbled slightly under his breath as he followed behind Mai, entering the rather simple and casual restaurant.

The moment he and the elder woman entered into Burger world, Yugi was surprised to see the place was very crowded. He allowed his eyes to adventure around the interior of the restaurant, until his attention was caught by a few people waving him and Mai down. A feeling of insecurity known as 'timidness' over whelmed Yugi. His cheeks were dusted lightly with pink, as he stepped behind Mai, shielding himself from view. He had never been one of those 'social' people types. Yugi was quiet, reserved, and kept to himself unless he was with someone he knew well and trusted. Only then would he show his 'true' colors. Only Mai and Rebecca had been an exception to this.

Mai laughed lightly, as she looked down at Yugi, before guiding him over to the group of people in the corner circular booth. Yugi gulped when he drew closer towards the rather high-spirited group. His amethyst eyes widened as he took in the features of the people who he and Mai were approaching.

The first person that caught Yugi's attention was a male with dirty-blonde hair and slightly dark skin tone from him, stuffing his face with food such as, hamburgers and fries. He wore a simple blue and white short sleeve t-shirt, and dark blue denim jeans. Yugi couldn't suppress the amused smile tugging at his thin lips. This male eased his worried feelings and shyness. Yugi didn't realize he had been staring at the male until, the dirty blonde figured paused in the middle of devouring a fist full of fries. Hazel meet light violet for a breath second, before the male flash a goofy and heart warming grin at Yugi. A warm blush of embarrassment covered Yugi's entire face.

"Want some too? The burgers are to die for!" The male spoke, leaning forward over the table and holding out a hamburger. His voice was heavily accented by some unfamiliar tone, but it was warm and made Yugi feel welcomed.

With a smile, Yugi took a step forward to take the hamburger from the male. Although he didn't speak, because a white hair male with soft brown eyes, and skin slightly paler than his own spoke. "Hello there. " He greeted Yugi with a smile, his voice was accented as well, a British accent Yugi believed. " I'm Ryou Bakura, it's nice to meet you..."

"My name is Yugi Muto. " The vertically challenged tri-colored spiky haired teen introduced himself to 'Ryou. He looked at the slightly taller male, noting he also was wearing casual clothing; dressed in an open light blue collared shirt, with a white and the same color blue, stripped t-shirt. His leg was dawned by a pair of black cargo pants.

A smile lit up the paler boy's face, making Yugi realize that he had to be close to his age.  
"You've already meet Jonouchi." The white haired male gestured to the dirty blonde who was stuffing his face.

"Cwall-meh-Jono.*" Jonouchi added in with his mouth stuffed with food. The sight caused Yugi to laugh lightly, easing his nerves.

"And the lad talking to Miss Mai over there, is Marik." Ryou added, as Yugi's eyes glanced over to the other male in the group. His hair was an odd pale brown, maybe blonde. It reminded Yugi of the sand on a beach. Marik's eyes were a pale lavender color, his eyelashes were thick and lined in khol. The color of his skin was a beautiful light tan, it was bound to have girls jealous.

The one thing Yugi noticed about all three males that they had in common, was the pale gray wings on their backs.

"Hello." Yugi greeted Marik who simply waved at Yugi, before he went back to conversing with Mai. The lack of greeting made Yugi feel slightly insecure, but the other two men soon washed the feeling away.

"Hey Yug'," Jonouchi spoke up, catching Yugi's attention with a 'Huh?'. " How do ya' like our home so far? It's pretty cool right?"

The smaller teen chuckled as he looked down at the burger in his hands. " Yeah, it is. Though it's a bit odd too. There's a bunch of brown flying puff balls everywhere. It's a bit creepy. " Yugi admitted to the dirty blonde.

Both Jonouchi and Ryou laughed lightly at Yugi, before Ryou replied to the newcomer. "Those creatures are known as Kuribohs. They act as messengers, transporting important messages and packages around Sanctuary. They're rather adorable." Ryou gave Yugi a gentle smile, although the boy shivered lightly. "I...I guess they have to grow on you." He replied to Ryou, earning a proud smirk from Jonouchi. " Nuh uh pal! This guy just likes em'. He's the only person I know that finds those fur-balls adorable."

Yugi laughed at Jonouchi's comment, and even more so when Ryou smacked in the back of the head for it. "Why don't you have a seat Yugi?" Ryou asked as he slid out of the booth for Yugi to squeeze in. "And you too, Mai."

"Oh no, I couldn't. I'm about to leave, I have other things to attend to. Actually I only had this little gathering arranged for Yugi to meet a few people. " She told Ryou, before giving Yugi the large envelope she had been carrying around all day. " That is for you, it has a map, your key to get inside you 'room', and a guide-book inside. Don't lose them." She told the young shinigami.

"I won't Mai. Thank you for the tour and the um... clothes." Yugi thanked the female who smiled proudly. "No problem." A proud smile flashed across her face." Oh and Ryou and Marik. You two have a mission tonight, remember that. " With those words spoken, Mai said a quick 'farewell' before leaving the restaurant.

"That's why ya' dressed like a virgin!" Jonouchi stated out loud once Mai was gone. Yugi blushed darkly and a took a bite of his burger to avoid saying anything. A smirk flashed across the silent Marik's face, while Ryou face palmed. "Oh dear..."

* * *

The four shinigami were quick to become friends, after talking and picking on one another light-heartedly. It almost made Yugi forget about his traumatic experience. Almost.

Mairk had informed Yugi on what missions were after he grew curious from what Mai had said. "They're just us going to guide a soul to it's afterlife. That's all" Was his response. Simple, sweet, and to the point. A big 'O' was formed by Yugi's mouth as he grasped the concept quickly.

" They're pretty boring, if ask me. But-" Mairk's lips pulled into an evil grin as he switched his gaze from Yugi to Ryou. "- afterwards, it's rather fun." Blushing brightly when he noticed what the tan male was staring at, it was Ryou.

"W-Why are you looking at me for?" The white-haired male picked up his drink from the table, without letting his gaze drift away from the pale purple hues that captured his attention. " No reason, 'Fluffy.' " Ryou and Marik seemed to be having a 'silent' conversation, that made the paler of the two squirm and blush even darker under the stare of the Egyptian.

"Um..." Yugi blinked feeling slight awkward, and worried for Ryou. He was curious to know why his new friend seemed so embarrassed by Mairk's gaze, and he was about to ask before Jonouchi suddenly started laughing.

The blonde's laughter cause all the heads to turn to the rowdy shinigami as he barked out loud laughs like a dog. "Geez, so much sexual tension between the two of ya! How about you guys go to the bathroom, and fuck there instead of tonight? " He taunted Mairk and Ryou, grinning proudly when both of the males ended up with extremely red faces.

Slinging his right arm over Yugi's shoulder, Jonouchi looked down at the now flustered Yugi. "If you haven't caught by now bud' , Those two-" He used his right hand's middle and index finger to point at both Marik and Ryou. "Are lovers and partners." He explained to Yugi.

A bright smile formed on the smallest one of the group as he stared at Marik and Ryou. "Oh that's why Ryou- Wait! Aren't lovers and partners the same?" Yugi's mellow voice questioned Jonouchi.

" I meant their partners in their work Yug'!" The Dirty blonde explained to Yugi, rubbing his fist on the shorter teen's head playfully. Said teen attempted to avoid the blonde's playful teasing, until Mairk distracted Jonouchi by waving a hamburger with cheese in front of his face.

The moment he was free from Jonouchi's taunting, Yugi scooted closer to Ryou, watching how Mairk and the rowdy dirty blonde fought over a simple 'cheeseburger'. He watched the scene play out until Jonouchi finally snatched the hamburger away from Mairk, scarfing it down with pleasure.

"Oh-" Jonouchi paused his speech briefly to swallow the bite of hamburger in his mouth, catching the sulking Marik's, bored Ryou's, and joyful Yugi's attention. " Yug' whose your partner?"  
Yugi's lips pressed into a thin line before he smiled up at Jonouchi. "I.. I don't know yet." He answered rather quietly. "I'm not sure what even a 'partner' is in this... world."

Both Mairk and Jonouchi sighed, slightly disappointed by the answer Yugi gave them. Ryou however, was actually expecting it. " Marik. Jou, He's new here, remember? Yugi doesn't know who his partner or partners are yet. He'll find out when he goes to his room. " The British male stated, moving his bangs out is face as he explained.

"Oh that's right!" Mairk said flashing Yugi a wide grin, showing him all of his sparkling white teeth.  
"Ah yeah!" Jonouchi laughed lightly and rubbed the back of his head, giving Yugi an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that pal, I got carried away. "

Yugi laughed lightly at the two, and placed his hands in his lap. " It's okay, no harm down." He told the two, giving them his famous 'smile'.

Ryou patted Yugi's back softly causing the younger male to look up at him. "I think they were just trying to find out who would be their next 'victim'. Don't worry about it too much."  
"Ah.. Right.." Yugi replied pitying whom every was going to fall for Marik's and Jonouchi's latest prank. Ryou had told him about them earlier, apparently the two pulled tricks on everyone in sight.

"Yeah! That, and I want to make sure our 'fresh meat' isn't ending up with anyone that might cause him 'issues'"  
"I agree with Marik here! Yug's our pal, I'm not gonna let him get involved with anyone that gives him the creeps!"  
" Like those 'two' right? "  
" Bingo Marik! I'm not gonna hand him over to-"

"Enough you two!" Ryou snapped, seeming rather angry. " I cannot believe you two are still steaming over those false rumors. " The white hair boy huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "There is nothing wrong with anyone here, just because one little 'team' had a bit of troubles in the past. Marik, have you forgotten who saved your bum? And what about you, Jonouchi? Those two also helped you get Seto to safe place when the Onmyouji attack the two of you."

Silence fell on to the group, as Mairk and Jonouchi became quiet as they recalled those 'painful' memories. Ryou seemed to notice rather quickly that he had reopened wounds, and the heavy feeling of guilty settled and his kind heart. However, he didn't apologize.

Such a dramatic change happened to the spirit of his small group of friends, their negative feelings started to remained him of something that had between him, Otogi, and Honda back when he was alive-  
Yugi stiffened his body, trying to block the images of the memory from surfacing in his mind. He didn't want to think about that! He didn't want to remember things that would make him think of his death, of his life before this. He didn't want to remember that he was dead! He had forgotten, being distracted by this 'dream' of his, that he was truly dead.

His hands balled into fist on his lap, and he let is gaze drop down to them. He felt a familiar stinging in his eyes he attempted to clear his mind, but was slowly starting to fail as his memories started to claw their way into his mind.

"Ah, I forgot! We need to get going, right Yugi?" Ryou's gentle voice broke the silence making Yugi lift his head. "Eh?"Yugi blinked and suddenly remembered about his room, and the envelope Mai had gave him.

"I need to show you to your apartment! And also me and Marik here need to get ready for our mission, and Jou was saying earlier how he was going to visit Seto in the infirmary." The white-haired male said joyfully, attempting to lift the mood.

"Y-Yeah! I've gotta go and make sure that asshole is going to be back up on his feet soon. I need ta' get back out in the field! It's too boring stayin' here all day with nothin' ta do." Jonouchi groaned, over exaggerating his boredom.

Yugi forced a laugh at Jonouchi. He still had that uneasy feeling settle deep in his chest, trying to claw its way into the 'spotlight'. He would need to find something to do in his leisure time, to keep him from thinking about unnecessary things.

Ryou stood up from the booth, catching his 'lover's' attention as he did so. He flashed a warm smile at Marik, which made the Egyptian smile back in return, though it was forced.

"It was nice meeting you guys! I hope we can spend more time together later on." Yugi spoke up, as he slid out of the booth when Ryou moved out away for him.

"No problem pal! We can hang out anytime you want, well as long as we don't have jobs and stuff ta do." Jonouchi told Yugi with the same bright goofy grin he had on when he first met the male.

"..Y-Yeah. We can meet up again some time, maybe we can do a few missions together and spend some time in the 'Human' world." Marik added in, before he was hugged by Ryou.

"Sure! I would be happy to!" Yugi replied, sounding thrilled by their offers. He felt the warmth from their conversations before, flow through him. Almost erasing the unpleasurable feeling he had felt.

After Ryou gave Mairk a 'goodbye' kiss, which had nearly turned into a 'french kiss' was ii not for Jonouchi who placed a napkin in between the their lips , just before they connected. Yugi smiled softly, a warm blushed was present on his face. Mairk became pissed, obviously from being 'cock-blocked'. But before Yugi could witness the pale-haired boy murder Jonouchi, Ryou lead him away from the scene while chuckling from the incident.

* * *

"Is this it?" Ryou asked, standing in front of dark wooden door with a silver door knob.  
"Room 769? " Yugi asked Ryou, looking down at the small paper tag attached to the silver key. He had found it in the tan envelope Mai had given him earlier.

Ryou scanned the name plate on the wall next to the wall, before he smiled brightly. "Yes! That's the room number."The British male informed Yugi happily and stepped out of the way so Yugi could unlocked the door.

With a fervent feeling making his heart skip a few beats, the seventeen year old with Unnatural hair pushed his key into the lock in the doorknob. He was about to unlock his door with a twist of his wrist, but Ryou suddenly 'shouted', distracting Yugi from opening his door.

"Yami! Hey Yami!" Yugi looked past his friend to see who he was calling.

The person Yugi saw utterly shocked him. He was slightly taller that Ryou, with medium to fair skin that was blemish free. His slightly muscular arms were exposed by a sleeveless black spandex v-neck shirt. His legs were cover by tight form-fitting black leather pants, that were settled on his rather 'feminine' hips.. His facial features were sharp, yet soft. A slim nose, high cheek bones, full lips, and sharp eyes with the color of bright ruby red mixed with purple, made it impossible to look away from him. His hair was similar to Yugi's own, but its tips were a bright magenta, and he had three gold bangs shoot up through his hair. But what stunned Yugi the most was the pitch black wings on his back.

'Yami' that was what Ryou had called the male, only waved at the white haired boy before he opened the door that lead to the room that was Yugi's neighbor on his left, and disappeared inside. Once the male had disappeared into his room, Yugi shook his head lightly, before he turned the key in his door and unlocked it.

"Huh, that's rather odd." Ryou spoke softly, as Yugi opened the door to his room.  
"What it?" Yugi asked, pausing to look at Ryou, who was staring in the direction that the 'Yami' person had entered he room next to Yugi's.

"Yami is never goes to his dorm, he's always at Atem's. "  
" Who's Atem?"  
"Atem is Yami's partner." Ryou explained o the curious Yugi. "Those two are hardly ever apart, and also they are the ones who saved Marik and Jonouchi. They... They also rescued me when my previous partner had..." The white haired male trailed off becoming oddly quiet, shaking his head lightly.

"Ah! You don't have to tell me anything, that's painful. "Yugi told Ryou and turned back to facing his room's door. "It's hard to... talk about stuff that's like that. So just try to let it go and focus on something else." The younger male spoke out of experience, as he pushed his door all the way open.

The sight of his room took Yugi's breath away, and hardly anything did that. The 'apartment' was simply that stunning. The walls were a smokey gray, matching perfectly with the black furniture of the room. His bed was round, instead of a normal rectangular shape. It sat in the corner farthest away from two double doors that were made of clear glass. The bed had no head or foot board, but the many pillows of varies sizes, shapes, and shades of purple and grays acted as a shield from the walls the bed touched. It's comforter was thick, and a dark purple that matched his eyes. Soft white carpet covered the floor beneath Yugi's and Ryou's feet, which Yugi could already pictured himself laying on it's soft plushness, once he was settled in.

A flat screen television was bolted to the wall across from his bed, and under it was a table that held various gaming consuls. The sight made the seventeen year old foam at the mouth. His gamer heart was dying to play them. A desk was placed against a wall, it was home to a silver laptop with a wireless mouse. Next to the black desk was door the was most likely a bathroom. A dresser was pressed against the wall on the opposite side of the door. The last detail Yugi notice in the room was the ceiling. Above him was a ceiling made of glass, allowing him to see the current bright blue sky outside.

This was definitely his personal 'paradise'.

" Amazing, it's almost as stunning as Seto's apartment. " Ryou commented on the features of the room letting his brown eyes take in everything it had to offer.

Yugi kept quiet, silently enjoying the room, until his amethyst eyes caught sight of a large white box sitting on his bed. Attached to it was a a letter, encased in a black envelope with a silver seal holding it close. Curious like a cat, Yugi walked over to the packaged, brushing his finger's against the black letter.

Once Ryou finished his own little tour of Yugi's room, he spotted his tri-colored spiky haired friend examining a rather large box on his bed; more specifically a letter attached to it.

"It's from Madam Horakhty. " Yugi blinked looking over his shoulder at his white-haired friend standing behind him, who was staring down at the envelope. "Why don't you open it up to read it?" Ryou asked, taking a seat on Yugi's rather soft bed.

Yugi smiled softly at his new friend and carefully detached the envelope from the package, while sitting the one Mai had given him on his bed. He used his index finger to gently break the seal, and pull the letter free from it's prison.

Unfolding it, Yugi began to read the elegant inscription the letter was written in.

_Mr. Yugi J. Muto,_

_Welcome to Sanctuary, I welcome you to my Utopia for those who have lost their lives too soon._  
_By now I am sure you have become aware of your passing, or think that this is just simply a silly nightmare or dream. Whatever you may be thinking in your mind, I do want to send you my sympathy._

_There are a few things I would like to tell you about your 'special case'. By now, I am sure you have noticed you are 'wingless', while other's have the standard feathered wings a shinigami bares. You were 'born' without that luxury, and your 'scythe' actually escaped from your greeter, Rebecca Hopkins. Although we have recaptured it, and it is located in the box this letter is attached to; you need to go speak with Council member Mahad. He shall help you with 'accepting' and awakening your powers. However it may prove to be a rather painful and a tedious task._

_As for your wings, when I mentioned you were born 'without' that luxury, the meaning is meant that you are a 'late' bloomer. Wings develop during Purgatory, and is painless. But there is a few special cases were they do not develop. You and a few others have been affected by this, but do not worry. They will come with time. Once you do notice them 'forming' please go to Isis, she shall help you with them._

_I hope you make many friends, and great memories here. I have high expectations for you Yugi, so do you best to help the souls of the living reach their final resting place. I wish you the best of luck._

_\- Madam Horakhty._

The letter left Yugi utterly confused. What did it mean be he didn't of course he did! He had them like every one else right? Looking over his shoulder Yugi came face to face with the blunt truth. There was nothing there, just air. He felt dispirited at realization. Next time he would look, before assuming he had something.

Ryou noticed Yugi's bummed-out look, cause concern to flash in his soft eyes. "Is something wrong Yugi?"  
"I.. I don't have wings..." He told Ryou sounding disappointed and handed the paler male the letter.

Ryou raised and eyebrow, as he took the letter from Yugi. " Are you sure, I thought you were hiding them, some shinigami do that too.."He trailed off reading the letter, before frowning softly. "Ah.. I see now, but don't be too bummed out about this." He flashed a warm smile to Yugi as he placed the letter down on the bed. "They'll appear soon, just like the letter said."

With a soft sigh, Yugi forced a smile. " Yeah, I'll just have to wait for now." His words were directed more at himself than Ryou. Nodding in agreement, the British shinigami smiled grew bright. "Mhmm, now let's see what Madam Horakhty sent you."

* * *

When Yugi opened the box, he wasn't expecting some of the things he and Ryou had found inside.

His 'scythe' was in there alright, but not in the form he was thinking it would be. The new shinigami thought it would be like one of the ones he saw during his life as a human, a long handle with a curved blade at the end; but he would never guessed it was a little orb of blue light in a glass cube. He was strongly disappointed, but Ryou on the other hand was acting like it was the newest toy and he was a little kid who had just bought it.

"I don't get it." Yugi firmly stated, as he watch Ryou hold the glass cube with his 'scythe' like it was newborn baby. " It's just a floating blue light, it's nothing like a scythe."

"Ah, but it is a scythe Yugi! It's just in it's original form. Death scythes are born from your soul, it a rarity when they appeared like this!" The white haired stated, as he placed the cube on Yugi's nightstand carefully. Yugi simple shook his head, mumbling ' I still don't see it..' under his breath.

The next Item Yugi looked at was a rather large gift basket with a variety of things he loved such as, games for the gaming consuls he now had, a replica of his 'duel monster's deck' that he had left behind when he... started this 'dream', nearly almost every kind of sweets he enjoyed, coupons for free hamburgers from 'Burger World' and... Yugi frowned when spotted the bundles of 'insulin pens' with a bright yellow sticky note reading. 'Don't forget me after eating!'

The young male fell back onto his bed with a loud groan. "Ryou.. I thought being 'dead' meant you were cured of all diseases." Yugi huffed out. "

The white haired shinigami chuckled lightly at Yugi. "I'm sorry, that's only for those who go to heaven. It's a myth. " He replied to Yugi, earning another groan from the younger shinigami. "Only the thing known as 'cancer' is healed, or missing limps and other parts of the body; heal when one becomes a shinigami. We also keep all the 'needs' we had as humans such as the need to consume food and water, the need to sleep, have social activity, and to use the 'John'. What's ailing you?"

Yugi sighed as he gazed up at his ceiling displaying the setting colors of an incoming sunset. " I'm a type one diabetic." He told Ryou and gestured to the insulin pens.

Ryou only laughed lightly at Yugi, who in return glared at his friend. "Yugi, it won't be as bad here. So lighten up. Would it be better if I told you my former partner was a born alcoholic? "

Yugi sat up and gave Ryou a strange look. "Your ex-partner had a drinking problem? How did you survive that, Ryou?"

"By hiding the liquor of course!" He told Yugi with a confident grin. His response had earned a round of sweet hardy laughter from Yugi, which he proudly joined in on.

Once they calmed down, they continued to explore the items Yugi had received in his package. By the time they had came down to the last three items, the sun had set and it was almost time for Ryou's mission.

"This-" The white-haired shinigami held up a dark blue touch screen phone in front of Yugi, who was holding his own similar phone that was a deep purple color. "- is a soulphone galaxy m5. It's how we shinigami connect to each other, kind of like the modern day cellphone but there's more to it. " He explained to the wide eyed Yugi who was twirling his own soulphone in his slender hands. "When you put tips together like this..." Ryou place the top of each phone together, and the screens turned into a black loading screen. "They transfers contacts. So now you have all my current contacts and the contacts of your partner's which was programmed into the phone before your arrival. "

"So cool!" Yugi held his phone up to his face, as he fidgeted on his bed and scanned through his contacts. He did not only have Ryou's number, but Marik's, Jonouchi's, Yami's, Atem's, Mai's, Rebecca's, H.Q.'S, And a few other's who he had no idea who they were.

The seventeen year old sat his phone down beside him on his bed, deciding he would mess with it later, as he picked up a black folder. "And what's this?" Yugi asked his friend as he looked over the outside of the bitched black rough looking folder.

"Ah.. That should be the information on your partners. " Ryou stated happily. "It'll have a current picture of them, and their basic information excluding biographies." He scooted over on the bed so he could peer over Yugi's shoulder as he opened the folder.

He had two. Not just one partner, but two; and he already had 'seen' one of them.

Yugi's amethyst eyes widened greatly when he saw the face of 'Yami' staring back at him. His body tensed, as he slowly turned his he to look at the equally shocked Ryou.

"I.. this is...Well, it explains why Yami went to his room. " The British male laughed light, it didn't impress Yugi who went back to look at his partner's information.

He decided to start with the one he recognized as 'Yami',and carefully read what was written on the file his photo was paper clipped to.

_Name: Yami Sennen._  
_ Gender: Male._  
_ Date of birth: October 31, 1895_  
_Date of death: October 28, 1912_  
_Age at death: Seventeen._  
_Classification of death: 'Murdered'_  
_Height: 5 feet and eight inches._  
_Weight: 162 pounds._  
_Blood type: A positive_  
_Obsessions: Fashion.  
Allergens:_ _Latex and Honey-bee stings_  
_Favorite food: Chocolate._  
_Least favorite food: Grapes._  
_Sexual orientation: Bisexual._

A dark blush settled on Yugi's face when he read the little bits of personal information. He felt like he was violating the guy's rights, but her proceeded to look over Atem's information.

The seventeen year old had never seen the other male before, and just by the head shot picture of him Yugi felt like a female high school student screaming over a well known model, though he didn't actually scream.

Atem's skin was the perfect tan. He look not like he had been kissed by the sun, but had made love with the sun. His skin was a mixture of a honey and bronzed color that was perfectly balanced. His face was like Yami's, expect slightly sharper features. He had a similar nose to Yami's, long and slender. His lips were the same color of his skin, and were full and bowed. Making him look proud. Atem's eyes were a deep maroon color, reminding Yugi of fine red wine. They were surrounded by thick eyelashes, and like Marik, he too wore khol.

His information how ever was very... vague.

_Name: Atem ?_  
_ Gender: Male._  
_ Date of birth: (estimated) March 21, 3XXX B.C._  
_Date of death: Unknown._  
_Age at death: Eighteen._  
_Classification of death: Unknown._  
_Height: 5 feet and eight inches._  
_Weight: 167 pounds._  
_Blood type: O positive_  
_Obsessions: 'order'.  
__Allergens: Mushrooms._  
_Favorite food: Pomegranates._  
_Least favorite food: Pineapples._  
_Sexual orientation: Bisexual._

Yugi snapped the folder shut and placed on his bed. "Ryou.. ." He turned to face his friend with a worried look. "Are these two... easy to get a long with?" Yugi asked feeling nervous about his two 'partners'.

Ryou scratched the back of his head as he looked up at Yugi's ceiling displaying the day's 'twilight'. "Yes and no. " He replied. "Yami is a nice fellow; cautious, quiet, willing to help, a bit cold though. Atem... he's a bit of a handful. He can be very blunt, but he's honest. He's arrogant, demanding, and rash. Atem however is a born leader. Both are rather stubborn and proud, but... " Ryou paused closing his eyes and smiling to himself. "Both are very, loyal to their friends. They're forgiving, and persistent, and confident. You do not have to worry about them much Yugi. " The white-haired male told his friend, before standing up.

"It's best I get going, I need to get ready for my mission." He told Yugi and started towards the door.  
"W-Wait! There 's one more thing !" Yugi told Ryou looking down at his bed and picked up a dark purple 'journal' that had been under the folder. Holding it up for Ryou to see, Yugi looked at it curiously. "What's this?"

"What's what Yugi?" Ryou asked seeing nothing, but air.

The tri-colored spiky haired male blinked and gazed at Ryou with slightly bewildered and confused eyes. "This. The journal I'm holding." He stated firmly.

Ryou shook his head lightly. "I don't see anything Yugi. Perhaps you're exhausted and just seeing things. Go to sleep, You've had a long day right?"

"Ah.. Right, good night Ryou. I hope your mission goes well. "  
The British shinigami smiled warmly at Yugi, before he left his friend's room. "Goodnight."

Once Ryou had left, Yugi looked at the book in his had bewildered. Maybe he was just seeing things. Who knows. With a heavy sigh, he placed the journal on his night stand; next to the trapped orb of light that was his 'scythe.' Maybe Ryou was right, maybe he was just imagining it and needed rest. He would deal with all this mess in the morning. Right now sleep was calling his name.

* * *

**AuthorRamble:** Glad that's done and over with, time for chapter three. ~  
Honestly I had to research so, so, sooo much for chapters two &amp; three it's not even funny.  
I felt like I was going to die by the time I gather the material to bring this to life. .  
You guys couldn't imagine the typos I went through when editing. At one point 'Sanctuary' some how became 'Sanctart'. - Just... how? As you can tell my mind is very... rambunctious.  
So if there is something wrong with a chapter, please inform me.  
If this chapter is a little boring, I apologize. The next one, is definitely not, so be on the look out for it.

Also thank you guys for making me feel so flattered! 7 reviews, 8 favorites, and 14 followers from one chapter.  
I cried tears of joy when I saw that. Many tears of joy. T uT  
It has boosted my confidence as a writer, and sparked many more 'fabulous' ideas for this lovely story.  
I would love to hear what you guys think and feel about this story. So please and always,  
R&amp;R 33

**Words &amp; phrases**:  
Cwall-meh-Jono: Call me Jono.  
Onmyouji: The main antagonist group in the story. To be explained later.  
Rekion: Human Souls.


	3. Chapter 3: Partners

**Chapter III  
****_'Partners_'**

* * *

Yugi awoke the next morning with a loud scream, that could be heard echoing in the building of his new 'home'. His body jolted up from his bed, as his heart raced to rates unknown, sweat poured from his forehead, and rough pants escaped from his mouth. His amethyst eyes were twice their normal size, and his body was trembling with fear. Noticing the tears spilling from his eyes in warm streams, Yugi slowly wiped the away with his palms. Never had he felt such terror in his hatred, such... negative feelings. Not even when he was bullied! His hands curled into tight fist, as he slowly recalled what forced him to wake up to such a feeling.

_'It was just a dream, nothing more than a figment of my imagination...' _He repeated to himself over and over, till he slowly began to relax.

If it was a dream, then why did he feel like it was real? Why was it so vivid? Yugi closed his eyes and collapsed back on to his bed, hearing it squeak slightly from the added weight.

Her eyes had been so cold; so unlike the girl he had known and loved all his life. Still, they were indeed the eyes of Anzu Mazaki. The beautiful deep blue eyes of his love had stared at him while filled with hatred of all kinds, anger, and regret.  
Yugi closed his eyes, clenched his jaw, and covered his face with his arms.

Anzu's voice, her words, her tone; caused him so much pain. So much pain.  
He could bear to hear those things come out of her mouth, asking him 'Why? Why did he want her to suffer so much? Why did he do something stupid for her? Why did he have to plague her with such horrible memories for the rest of her life? What was the point? Did he wish to drive her to the point of insanity where no one, not even Otogi, would want to be around her? Was she such a horrible friend that he had to go and kill himself in front of her? Did she do something wrong?

He could still vividly hear her screaming how she hated this; how she hated _him_. Her voice stated that she wished he never meet him, and that she wished he could have just left her alone. The onslaught of words that came from Anzu weren't like her at all but, they still caused tremendous amount of pain to Yugi.

After her screaming, Anzu had pushed him like he had pushed her. But instead of being safe from any danger, he was pushed into the path of the thing that ended his life.

A shaky hand ran through his tri-colored hair as he tried to calm himself. Yugi hardly had nightmares and when he did have them, it was obvious they nearly made him wet his bed.

The seventeen-year old tried to forget his dream, and the memories of 'that day'. The more and more he dwell on those painful memories of his last moments, the tighter his chest felt, the harder it was to breathe, the more he started to regret- Yugi tugged harshly on his bangs to get his mind to focus on something else rather than this. He couldn't, wouldn't let himself regret his choice. He saved a life, that's all that mattered.

_**'If that's so... then why did you feel regret? Do you wish to take it back? Are you doubting your choices? Is it because you think she hates you for it? '**_

Amethyst eyes snapped open, as Yugi sat up in a rush, looking around his dorm. A voice. He heard an unknown voice, and it's owner knew what he was thinking.

"Who's there?!" The new shinigami called out as his eyes moved around his sun-lit room. An uneasy feeling washed over the male as he slowly crawled out of his warm bed, and rose to his feet.

Yugi looked everywhere around his apartment. He looked under his bed, in his bathroom, in his closet, on the balcony, and anywhere else a person could hide. But in the end, Yugi could not find the source of the voice.

The teenager groaned out of frustration and rubbed his temples with his palms. It must have been just his imagination playing pranks on him while he was sulking about his nightmare. Maybe he was going insane.

Feeling hazy, tense, and filthy; Yugi dragged his feet towards the bathroom in his dorm, with the strong desire to bathe. Perhaps a nice warm and long shower would do him some good, and not to mention he smelt slightly like a dirty jock-strap.

* * *

For the first time since he had arrived at Sanctuary, Yugi felt perfectly at ease and in bliss. The hour-long shower had been the best shower he had ever took. His muscles were no longer tense and his 'dream' had been erased for his mind for the time being, as Yugi started his first official day at Sanctuary.

Right after his shower, Yugi was quick to locate the large fluffy body towels to dry off with. He had patted himself down with it before wrapping the large cloth around his slender hips. The young shinigami's hair was still in it's gravity defying shape, though the purple tipped spikes did droop from the weight of being soaked by water.

Yugi ventured to his closet, and was quickly shocked by its contents. (He hadn't really paid attention to it earlier.) The rather large walking closet had every outfit a person his size could possible have. It was an endless selection of shirts, pants, undergarments, jackets, suits, shoes, accessories, and much more, stashed away on racks, in drawers, and cabinets. Brands of clothing for all over the world filled the magical closet. If Yugi was a girl with some sense of fashion, this would have been his personal heaven.

Too bad he didn't care about fashion. As long as something fit him and looked well, he was perfectly happy with what ever he had on. Even if it didn't match at all. Though occasionally, he would care. Mostly that was only around the girl of his dreams.

After he explored the closet for a few seconds, the seventeen year old male started to search for a simple pair of boxers. He started his hunt for the simple pair of underwear with a small drawer closest to the door of the closet. Luckily his first choice had been a good choice, as a pair of light blue boxer-briefs laid on top of a billion more pairs of boxers. Yugi smiled happily, letting his towel drop to the floor as he grabbed the underwear and quickly put it on.

With underwear checked off his list, the shinigami searched his closet for something to go over his underwear. Spotting a pair of knee-length khaki cargo shorts, Yugi grabbed them and slid the article of clothing over his boxers. Now all he needed was a shirt and a jacket, then he would be set for the day.

Yugi was indecisive on what shirt he should wear, so he simply found a black short sleeve v-neck style black shirt, and tugged it over his head and on to his bare torso covering it. He then grabbed a zip-up hoodie that was pale blue, before placing it on his torso as well. He couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of himself for dressing rather decent, given his lack of fashion sense.

After grabbing a pair of white ankle socks a long with black and white tennis-shoes; Yugi exited the closet. He hopped over to his bed on one foot while putting his socks on. Once there the seventeen year old plopped down on to the round bed while he slipped on the simple pair of tennis shoes.

Dressed and ready for the day, Yugi sighed to himself as he looked at his night stand where the glass box containing his 'scythe'. His amethyst eyes looked at it with mixed emotions. He really had no opinion about the tiny floating light trapped in the glass cube. Although Ryou had found it amusing, Yugi had no feelings towards it.

He looked away from the odd object to gaze at the journal-

"HUH?!" The teen stood up from his bed and stumbled over to the night stand. "Where did it go? I swear I left it here last night!"

Yugi dropped to his knees and searched in the drawers, under his bed, behind and underneath the nightstand. No matter where he had look he couldn't find the journal anywhere. Maybe he had imagined it after all? The pale boy used the palm of his right hand to smack his forehead. Apparently even before the nightmare and unknown voice, he was already losing his sanity. Wonderful.

The young shinigami pushed the thought from his mind, distracting himself by the thinking of the little orb of light on his nightstand. He was supposed to go see someone about that, if he recalled. Ma...Mahad was his name!

Yugi smiled softly as he reach his hand out to touch the small glass box. Perhaps that's what he should do today. Search for this... 'Mahad' person and gain his scythe from this tiny blue orb of light. The thought of it though wasn't real convincing in Yugi's mind. Despite what Ryou had told him last night.

Yugi stood up from the ground and grabbed his soulphone from the nightstand. He twirled the dark purple phone in his hands looking at its thin body with curious eyes, before placing it in the back pocket of his shorts. The shinigami found his guide-book and key to his room also on his night stand. Funny, he didn't remember leaving it there.

Not questioning it any further, Yugi rolled up the rather thin guide-book and placed it in his back pocket as well. He then grabbed the glass box, and his keys to his room before setting out. First he would get a quick breakfast and ask for directions to where this 'Mahad' would be at. It would be best to hit two birds with one stone

* * *

Yugi's amethyst eyes looked up from his map in his guide-book and gazed at the large building made of tinted mirrors; he looked back down at his map, then up again. "This is... the right place?" He questioned himself quietly.

The young shinigami looked around his surrounds noticing others walking into the building ahead of him. He let out a sigh and decided to follow their lead and enter the rather odd hexagon shaped building covered in tinted glass. As he entered, Yugi weaved in and out of the small crowd of shinigami, but he eventually stop in his path bewitched by the sites in front of him.

This place...This 'training center' was full of life and pure magic.

Huge monitors huge displaying training sessions and battles, hung from the walls and some from the ceiling. Odd looking creatures that appeared animal like, flew around the air above the heads of the crowd. Other shinigami had their scythes out, which for Yugi, was the first time he saw what a shinigami's scythe was.

Yugi could never imagine there were so many different types of scythes in his life. There were the 'normal' shaped ones, duel-blades, chain scythes, and some that were shaped oddly. All of them were different colored and cast an aura that made Yugi shiver. He spotted one female with a scythe that was covered by ice, and another girl had one that was on fire! There was a boy with a scythe that looked like it was formed from a human skeleton, and Yugi hesitantly kept in mind to keep away from it and him. His eyes looked around at all the types of scythes around him. The scythes all had similar characteristics, but not one of them was a like.

A warm feeling arose in Yugi's chest. He cautiously pulled out his own 'scythe', the little blue orb of light trapped inside a glass box no bigger than a 'Rubix' cube; that he had placed in his hoodie's pocket. He smiled softly while looking down at the box in his palms, wondering what form it might take on.

"Wa- Woah! "

"Ah!" With no warning, Yugi was suddenly crashed into by some unknown force, almost making him drop the glass box in his hands. _Almost_.

The seventeen year old stumbled a bit, clenching his scythe to his chest until he was steady on his feet again. He quickly turned his head to peer over his shoulder, ready to snap at the person who bumped into him until he actually spotted _her._

Behind Yugi on the floor gathering various papers scattered on the floor, was a very odd female. Her skin was a perfect tan, blessed by the sun, and blemish free. Her hair was a beautiful chocolate-brown, that reached past her shoulder in layers. She had child like features, and her eyes were round with emeralds for irises. But her clothing... wasn't exactly in 'date'.

The female was dressed in a cream-colored linen dress, that reached half way down her thighs. Her shoulders were bare, while he upper arms dawned small ruffled sleeves and golden armlets. A solid gold necklace hung from her neck, while opened toed sandals dawned he feet. Her back was also wingless, like himself; or so he thought.

The girl was truly 'something', but she wasn't as pretty as Anzu or Mai in Yugi's mind.

"Are you all right miss? Here let me help. " Yugi squat down to the ground helping the strange female with collecting her papers.

"Ah! Thank you, and sorry. I was in a rush...err...I still am." Her voice was full of energy, but her nervous made the beautiful sound crack in some places. "I need to get this documents to Master Mahad's-"

"Mahad?" The young shinigami interrupted the female without thinking, blushing from the rude out burst. "Ah sorry! It's just that.. I'm actually here to talk to him about something, though I've never really seen him before..."

The female looked up at him with a bright smile before standing up with the papers in her arms. "It's fine! How about we go together then? I'll lead you to my Master's office, it's not too often people come to visit him unless it's the 'prince' and his little lover."

Yugi smiled awkwardly at the girl's comment as he held the small stack of papers head collected off the ground, to his chest. "I-Is that so?" He could feel the sweat dropping slowly from his forehead. This girl really was something unlike the others he had met through out his life.

With no warning before hand, the tanned female grabbed Yugi's arm with one hand, and started to drag him along with her. "Well come on then, shorty! Master is a very busy man, if you don't hurry you won't catch him before he runs off, to some place only Ra knows where!"

The male teenager couldn't help but chuckle as he was pulled along by the lively female, but he stopped his laughter short when he heard 'shorty' remark that came from the female's mouth. " It's Yugi! And I'm taller than you!" He pointed out to the female, who huffed in response.

"You're still the shortest boy I've seen here. " She mumbled as she tugged Yugi towards a flight of stairs. "And my name is Mana, Yugi. Not 'You'" Mana spoke, finally introduced herself.

The seventeen year old rolled his eyes at her comment, ignoring it. " It's nice to meet you Mana." He said rather forced, hoping to make her forget about his short height.

A soft giggle came from Mana, as he led Yugi up the stairs. "It's nice to meet you too, Yugi the shorty!"

The tri-colored spiky haired boy groaned loudly. It seemed like Mana was never going to stop taunting him about his height.

* * *

Mahad, was not what Yugi was expecting when he first laid eyes on the man. In his mind, Yugi thought of a man of old age and extremely wrinkled face, who had been a hermit all of his life. But surprisingly, Mahad was fairly young. He appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties, with skin that was tanned. It reminded Yugi of 'Atem', one of his partners.

Another odd thing about Mahad, was that the male was dressed in robes made of the similar materials Mana's dress was created from, and had a head-dress covering his hair. It reminded Yugi of the Egyptian priests his grandfather used to be obsessed with.  
Mahad was gentle, yet he gave off a rather intimidating aura. Maybe that's why Mana high-tailed it after she delivered her papers and dropped off Yugi? Or Maybe it was the complete mess her master's office was in.

It was only after Mana had left and Mahad had tidy up his office enough to find a spare chair for Yugi to sit, did the older shinigami and the 'day-old' shinigami actually took their seats to talk.

"What is it you wanted discuss with me Yugi? Normally I do not sit down like this-" Mahad gestured his hand at Yugi and himself." But I've made an exception since Mana brought you, but next time please make an appointment." The man informed Yugi.

"Yes sir, I understand. However, I came here to talk to about this thing." The teenager removed the glass box containing his scythe; from his pocket and handed it to Mahad. " It's my scythe. Well, that is what I was told in a letter I found in my room yesterday. "

"I see, so you must be our new recruit then."

"Yes, word must travel fast here. " Although it was a statement and not a question, Yugi still felt the need to answer the man.

Mahad observed Yugi's scythe, turning the glass box around in his hand. His gray eyes were like windows to Mahad's thoughts. Yugi could clearly tell this wasn't the first time this had happened, but it most like had not recurred in a very long time.

"I hope this wouldn't be any trouble for you to solve..."

"Of course not. It's actually rather simple for me, but for you though..." The wise shinigami trailed off in thought. " It's going to be a rough process, this one seems rather... unwilling to be bonded. There's something strange with this. Normally scythes that have been detached were forced to, though this one was more than willing to leave its host. "

"So... That's a bad thing?" Yugi asked, confused by Mahad's words.

"In a way, yes. It means you're going to have your hands full with dealing with your scythe. I pray that your partner is able to do their work effortlessly, you might be struggling to summon your scythe for a while." Mahad chuckled softly before placing the glass cube on his desk. " Who is your partner, Mr. Muto?"

" My partner is actually two others by the names of Yami and Atem." Yugi bit his lower lip while he watched the reaction her received from Mahad. The older male had his head tilted down in away his eyes had been cast over with a shadow and faint smirk was forming at the corner of his lips.

His appearance sent a shivers up Yugi's spine.

"Is that so? Then you definitely won't have any problems. But if you do, please don't hesitate to come by and tell me. I'll put those two in place faster than their mothers would be able to." The bright smile Mahad gave him following his offer, made Yugi feel deathly afraid yet honored at the same time.

"Y-Yes.." The young male replied rather quietly with a nervous smile.

"No need to be nervous Yugi, I simply know those two like the back of my hand. " Mahad explained standing up from his chair. " I am fairly close with them, especially with Atem. We may have different roles among Sanctuary, but we still are close friends...like brothers almost. And with Yami being his partner, it's only natural I've gotten to know him fairly well too."

"Ah! I get it now. You three are just close." Yugi said happily with a fond smile as he stood from his chair. " For a moment there, you had me thinking that they were some type of delinquents." His amethyst eyes watch Mahad carefully as he grabbed his scythe and held with in his hand.

"Ah ...well you see..." Mahad gave Yugi his own smile, as a nervous bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face. "They are, but in many ways they aren't. I'll leave that for Yami to explain. " He explained heading toward his office's door.

" But never mind that Yugi,-" He turned his head over his shoulder, looking back at said teen."- We're here to help you with your scythe problem. Now let's go before my personal training grounds' visitors come by. "

With a nod of his head, Yugi stood and followed Mahad out of his office and down a quiet hallway, where an elevator awaited them.

* * *

Yugi now understood why there was such a crowded lined up for the elevators when he had first entered 'Sanctuary Training Complex.' The elevators only went down, down to nearly fifty different levels. Each were different arenas for training or competitive fighting. Though the last two levels, Level forty-nine and fifty were restricted ares only for those with permission from Mahad to enter. The young shinigami gazed in wonder, as the screen above the elevator door showed them the floors they passed as the steel luxurious cage descended down the shaft.

The ride had been long, but not quiet. Mahad had explained on the trip downwards, about how exactly the process of obtaining Yugi's scythe would play out. He thought it would calm Yugi's nerves, but instead it had the opposite effects.

By the time the elevator's door opened on level forty-nine, Yugi's anxiety had his heart beating frantically in his chest as he followed the priest-like shinigami out of the elevator and into a narrow dark corridor. The only source of light was radiating from the end of corridor and from his 'scythe', which was in Mahad's hand. A feeling of panic started to settle with Yugi's chest.

Light blinded the teen's amethyst eyes as the two shinigami's finally submerged from the dark hallway. Sounds of clashing, chuckles, paints, and curses filled Yugi's ears while he was deprived of sight. After blinking to adjust to the new lighting, he spotted two male figures. One he recognized from the previous night, when Ryou and him had been outside of his room. It was Yami Sennen.

Yugi had paused in his stride, letting Mahad trail ahead of him as he watched the male he knew as Yami fight another male who Yugi, found familiar but could not name. The two men looked visually similar, despite Yami's pale complexion compared to the other male's sun-kissed skin. Yugi caught a glimpse of the unknown male's face and was quick to place a name with face. This man, fight with Yami was Yugi's other partner; Atem.

Atem was indescribable. He had stunning features like Yami's, and the feeling of intimidation and sex appeal rolled off of his body in tidal waves. In truth the tanned male terrified Yugi slightly, but that fear was blocked out by the amazing realization that he was finally seeing both of his partners in person. Of course, they didn't even notice he was there with them; but Yugi was simply satisfied watching over them. He had feeling he would be doing this quiet a bit, watching the two from a distance. Well, at least until he could fight for himself.

" Ah-hemm."

Sanding out of his stupor, the seventeen year-old looked away from his partners training to Mahad. The Egyptian looked rather annoyed in Yugi's opinion, but it clear as day that the higher ranking male was trying to suppress the feeling.

"I know you are excited about meeting them, but please -" Mahad took a deep breath sighing. " Let us save that for later. You want to fight with them, correct?" His gray eyes glanced at the fighting pair briefly before returning to Yugi.

The spiky haired boy laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. " Forgive me, Mahad. I was just observing them. Yami and Atem are truly ... something." Yugi's gaze returned to the two fighting males, it was then Yugi noticed their scythes, well Yami's scythe; a kusarigama*. Atem oddly did not wield one.

"Mhmm, they are 'something'." Mahad agreed with Yugi before pulling on his ear lightly. " Now enough fantasizing. We have work to do Mr. Muto." The tanned male dressed in robs released Yugi's ear and handed the wincing seventeen year old the glass cube containing the life of his scythe. "Open it."

Yugi blinked, looking from the floating orb stuck in the see-through box, and to Mahad. He had a look of utter confusion on his face, before he carefully lifted the lid.

Rays of light of every shade of blue imaginable, burst forth from the cub when Yugi opened it. A loud roar had drowned out every possible thing, even the scream Yugi released when the lights pierced his body from all directions. Fear pulsed through Yugi's body as the light slowly started be absorbed into his petite body. When everything subsided, the young male felt like his body was on fire. His vision was fading, and all the strength in his body was slowly leaving him. Eventually the young shinigami dropped to his hands and knees struggling to keep conscious. Not once during this did Mahad try to see if Yugi was 'okay' or help him. Instead, he had moved away from him, and kept Yami and Atem from approaching the boy.

_**"Tch, if you're going to fight me then why bother to release me from that prison, Host?"**_

_'That voice! You're from this morning! Who are you!? Get out of my head!' _Yugi mentally shouted at the voice inside his head. He felt like he was going insane.

The teen slowly lowered himself to the ground as his energy continued to leave his body, yet his mind was clear and wide awake. Even as the darkness started to settle over his eyes.

That same darkness soon consumed him, blocking out all of his sense of the outside world, yet producing new ones. Yugi felt a dramatic temperature change. His body went from enjoying the warmth of Mahad's private training area, to loathing the bitter cold that was prickling his entire body. He heard a faint hiss, and his body seemed weightless. Finally, he could make out another figure, another 'being' in front of him.

_**"Heh, That's hard to do when you keep wanting to 'trap' me here." **_ Yugi watched with wide eyes, as the figure's appearance cleared and he noticed their similar features.

No, that was an understatement. They did not just share a few features, they shared everything. Their hair, eyes, complexion, body shape, clothing, height, and even their voice! Every thing was the exactly the same as his own. The only thing that differed from each other, was that the 'thing' in front of him lacked color. He... looked like a shadow. A shadow of himself.

**_" Silly Host."_** Yugi narrowed his eyes as he gazed up at the 'shadow' in front of him. It felt wrong to call this thing a 'thing' or an 'it'. The shadow had intelligence, it could speak, feel, and think. This shadow of himself, was civilized.

**_"Of course I'm like you, you are my host. I was born 'from' you. And yes, I'm civilized. "_** A huff came from the creature, and Yugi started to feel anxious. This shadow could hear his every thought?

A groan came from the shadow as its dim gray hand collided with its own forehead and slowly scrapped down his face.

**_"Idiot. This YOUR mind. Are you an ignorant fool? Your thoughts echo loudly through out this place.I would have to be deaf if I didn't hear them."_ **He gestured to the darkness around them. "**_Also, are you just going to lay there like your dead? Or are you going to stand and give this place some life? It's getting pretty boring like this."_**

Wait... He had a body? In his own mind?

Now that he was conscious of it, Yugi could feel his numbed fingers and toes, paralyzed by the bitter coldness surrounding him. He forced his muscles in his arms and legs to haul himself to his feet, even though they had burned and cramped in protest.

_**"That's it, Host. Now why don't you warm this place up a bit? This scenery is making it hard for me to tell where my own feet are. "**_

Yugi felt irritated from this shadow's commanding tone and demeanor, something that 'he' knew well from his cocky smirk.

With a huff, Yugi quickly thought of some place warm, like a beach. With the idea that popped into his head, the blackness quickly transformed into the last beach like scenery he had been to and seen. The odd world he had appeared in when he meet 'Rebecca'.

Fear and anxiety pulsed through his veins, as the warmth from the new scenery warmed his numb appendages. Why was this the place his mind referred to?

_**"It's the only place 'beach like', I have existed in."**_ The shadow spoke up, looking up at the dark star filled skies over their heads.

"Existed in? I wasn't even aware of you when I was here! I still don't know who you are!" The shinigami snapped at his colorless-self. For the first time since seeing this creature, he spoke aloud.

The shadow boy smirked and his empty black eyes glanced at Yugi, while his colorless white lips smirked at him. _**"My my Host, you really are a clueless fool. "**_ The creature ran his white hand through the pitch black seven-spiked hair he possessed. "**_I was born when you killed yourself for that foolish girl. I was to be condemned into following your stupid petty wishes, for my entire life. But I broke away, only to be confined by that stupid child with glasses-"_**

"Rebecca?" Yugi interrupted the unknown being.

_**"Yes."**_ The voice, his voice, was full of bitterness and hatred. "**_That midget. She encased me in that stupid box, after she attempted to get me to return to you. Which as you can see, I refused."_** He let out around of dark laughter. **_" I want to be free. Free to do as I please. I'm not some obedient dog like the rest of my 'kind'. I will not just stay here and let you do as you please with me. No, I have no intentions for that. I want to be free. I desire to be the one to use 'YOU' as I please!"_**

Dark shadows slowly stretched towards Yugi on the surface of the solid waters that reflect the skies in the human world. The shinigami took small steps back as the shadows crept closer towards him. " You want to control me to be free? Are you mad?!" Yugi yelled out with his amethyst eyes narrowed at the creature in front of him. "I won't allow you to do as you please with me, like some slave! I wouldn't dare to do that someone else, that includes you as well!"

**_"Oh? But you wish and desire to have my power. The power of a shinigami; the scythe. By obtaining my power you would be enslaving me!"_** The anger of the colorless male was clear in his voice. The shadows suddenly lurched forwards, giving Yugi no chance to run from them as they captured his feet and quickly slivered up his body; constricting his use of his arms and legs.

_**"You are going to enslave me. Even if you think it is not slavery, it still is."** _The scythe spoke quietly, in a dark hostile tone. **_"So I will be the one to be the master. I will use you as my scythe and force you to do my fighting, my killing, and use you as my shield."_**

The shadows slowly encased Yugi despite his struggles. When they reached his neck, the dark cloaks of chaos applied pressure to his wind pipe making it hard to breathe. He could hear the chaotic laughter of the 'scythe' over the hissing of the shadows. " W-Wait..." Yugi attempted to speak loudly, but his lack of air was causing his voice to seem strained. "W-What if... we... make a deal...?" The shinigami panted out. " We can work to-together. You can take over... my body for... for a short a-amounts of time and I won't complain...! We can share the strain of fighting...the wounds...the after effects.."

The shadows applied more pressure to his neck, causing the seventeen year old to cry out in pain. "**_How do I know you won't go back on your word? What if you abuse me and my power?! "_ **The black and white version of Yugi question sounding un-trusting.

"I-I won't!" Yugi yelled, struggling to speak as his face and head was slowly being absorbed by the shadows. "I-I...won't do that... to my partner! We're...partners! You... and I... are parts of the same soul! " He cried out as his vision became obstructed by the shadows slowly covering them.

**_"...Partners you say?"_** The shadows paused, leaving Yugi's forehead, tips of his golden bangs, and three of his seven ebony and violet spikes visible. Slowly they started to recede, but stopping just below Yugi's collarbone.

"Yes..." He panted out, recapturing the much-needed air that he had been stripped of. " We're partners, even now. " Yugi slowly calmed his unsettling nervous to but on a brave front for his scythe. "You said you were created from a part of my soul? Well that makes us partners. We are two parts of one whole. We work together, not to try to control each other." Yugi's eyes connected with the pitch black ones of the other person. That's right. his scythe was a person, a person he would work with, shared memories and a soul with.

A soft giggle came from Yugi's scythe, and suddenly the shadows completely vanished from Yugi's body. The aura around the scythe had changed completely, becoming gentler and soft.**_" A person who you share memories and a soul with?"_** Yugi blushed lightly when his very thoughts were repeated to him, though he couldn't help but smile. After all, in his mind it was true.

_**"Host, you are very kind, but you still are ignorant, stupid, and cheesy. But you..."** _A hint of a smile appeared on the colorless boy's face along with his eyes becoming softer, causing Yugi to re-frame from interrupting him. **_" Are and will be my partner. We will share everything, even your body. "_**He finished, sounding somewhat pleased.

Excitement, happiness, and thrill coursed through Yugi's veins. " You'll be my scythe then? You'll work with me? " The young shinigami's joy was overwhelming him and he suddenly sprinted toward the other male who was just a shadow of himself. His thin tube like arms wrapped around the scythe, and squeezed.

**_"Yes- Hey quit that!"_** The scythe pushed his host away disliking the 'hug' he had received. "**_Just because I am willing to work with you, does not mean I am willing to do everything with you! I won't take orders, just request that are asked nicely! And I definitely won't do shit like hugs or any other things related!"_**

Soft laughter escaped from Yugi as he stood up straight, beaming a bright smile at his 'partner'. " That's okay. I'm happy with just this. " Now that he thought about it, he hadn't been this happy since he had been with Anzu, back when he was...alive.

**_"...Idiot. Stop thinking about those things. If you do your will, will diminish and you won't make it back to them!"_**

Yugi stopped breathing, his eyes were wide as he gazed at the scythe. " Make... it.. back..? I can go back to them? I...can go back? But... I'm dead!"

The colorless version of Yugi bent down, placing a pale white hand on the water that displayed the sky in which was displaying the skies over Yugi's past life's location. _**" It is... a hunch. I had a person cloaked in black told me it was possible; it was when I was attempting to get away from you. He told me I could be free, have my own body to use if my host gained life as a human. "**_

Yugi closed his eyes as he took a shaky breath. His arms crossed over his stomach, while his hands squeezed his sides. Images of past memories flooded his mind. The good and the bad, his dreams, wishes, and nightmares; all of them. The shinigami's breathing was unstable the more he thought of his life before his death, his life as a human.

"I.. I don't believe it."

The scythe stood up straight and sighed. "**_Believe or don't believe. I don't care, but don't go thinking you're dead as the dirt. Your life in a human's body is over, so what? Your life as a shinigami is still here. You're still alive. You have a pulse. You breath, eat, sleep, pee, poop-"_**

"Okay! I get it!" Yugi snapped at the other, feeling slightly annoyed by him. " Getting lectured by you is like-"

**_"Getting lectured by yourself? Funny I was also thinking that._**" The scythe chuckled softly, looking worn out. " **_I need rest, appearing like this in front of you and using so much of my magic is stressful. Host, you must leave and return to the outside. I need rest. "_**

Yugi nodded, but he looked unsure of himself. "I will, but how?"

**_"I'll cast you out ."_ **It was odd hearing his own voice sound so tired and weak. Though it wasn't as alarming as it had been earlier when it was filled with bitterness. The scythe started to raise his hand and a blue orb formed in front of his was visually similar to the one that had been in the glass cube.

" W-Wait! If we're partners I need to know your name! It's kind of ... weird to refer to you as scythe, or a colorless me..." Yugi looked some what bothered as he casted is gaze down at his feet.

**_"Jaakuna abatā*; The wicked avatar."_** Not letting Yugi say another word to him, The wicked avatar quickly sent the blue orb towards Yugi, causing the shinigami's entire body to go numb upon impact.

**_"Until we meet again, Host Yugi. You may call for me once you return, but I need my rest."_**

* * *

_"-Gi. Yugi...Yugi... Yugi,... wake up... Yugi.. Yugi, wake up!"_

A voice. There was voice outside of his head, with the feeling of shaking. Initially, the pale seventeen year old did not want to open his eyes. His body was sore, his eyelids heavy, his chest was also burning every time he took a shallow breath. In conclusion, he felt exhausted but the persistent shaking and the yells of the person next to or over him, was making it difficult for Yugi to rest.

" Mr. Muto, please wake up! "  
Rougher shaking followed by a muffled voice finally convinced Yugi to roll away from the male and onto his stomach. Though it proved to be a bad decision on his part, when dirt went up his nose after he took in another breath.

The young shinigami quickly sat up, cough followed by sneezing to get the dirt out of his windpipe. A sigh of relief could be heard and a two sets of chuckles came from his left. Though the pale teen didn't bother with them, trying to get the dirt he inhaled out of his system.

"See Mahad? The boy is fine, what did Atem tell you?" A deep voice spoke up, attempting to soothe someone. The voice had to belong to an angel. It was too beautiful, calming, and warm to belong to anything living. Shinigami or human.

Once Yugi was at ease, dirt free from his wind pipe and his coughing had seceded, he turned his head over to the direction he heard the voices from. Instantly, he wished he hadn't.

Sitting on the ground next to him, was Mahad; the Egyptian priest like shinigami. His headdress was oddly missing, revealing his long chestnut-brown hair and bangs. Behind him was Yami, one of the supposed partners he was paired with.

Deep blushed dusted his checks from the realization that he was being stared at by the two, though it was Yami's intense red eyes gazing at him with warmth and concern that caused him to blush. What happened to the cold emotionless eyes from last night?

" Yugi! Are you feeling faint?" Mahad's concerned voice brought Yugi back from his day dreaming. He flashed a smile at the older shinigami, trying to help ease his worries.

"No, I'm fine Mahad. " He released a sigh focusing on diminishing the warmth that was boiling in his cheeks. " I'm just a little embarrassed. I didn't mean to cause you so much worry."

Mahad released a soft laugh and ruffled Yugi's hair, causing the smaller shinigami to groan. "It's fine, you did not cause me to worry that much."

"Bullshit. " Oh dear god, the voice was even more addictive when it cursed! Maybe it was because the pitch was so heavenly?

Yugi focused himself to look at Yami who was staring at Mahad in a taunting way. "You were worrying so much, you were near tears. You even forced Atem to fetch cold water and some rags!" So the voice belonged to him. The new information on Yami caused Yugi to smile with delight, though his voice was something that would make him shiver with delight.

"D-D-Did not! I was simply doing my job as one in the council of seven!"  
"Was not." Yami taunted and poked Mahad's exposed forehead.

"I was too Yami Sennen! No cut it out unless you want to be my 'errand boy' for six months!" Mahad snapped, smacking Yami's hand away from his forehead.

"You wouldn't really do that, Atem would have your head if you did." The other male shinigami replied as a hint of a pout forming on his lush lips slowly appeared.

Yugi attempted to suppress his child like giggles, but both of the men next to him still heard the innocent laughter. Their heads snapped towards him, Mahad was blushing slightly while Yami was smiling softly. Their expressions were even more amusing when Mahad sent a glare towards the male with the similar hairstyle Yugi bore.

" What is his he laughing at?" A new voice from behind Yugi asked. It was deep, deeper than the Marianas Trench. It wasn't as soothing as Yami's voice, but god did it sound appealing with that baritone melody.

Yugi tilted his head back, looking up at the man who was standing behind him. Maroon met amethyst, as Yugi gazed up at the perfectly tanned male above him, and the male looked down at him. Yugi couldn't tear his gaze away from the emotionless calculating eyes that study him. This man had an intimidating aura, one that pierced fear into Yugi's heart and caused heat to pool in his lower regions.

"I'm not sure, Atem. " Yugi heard Yami sigh, but it wasn't enough for him to look away from the male known as Atem.

"Is that so?" The owner of the baritone voice lifted his gaze from Yugi to look at Yami. Yugi silently thanked the angel looking over him, before he scrambled what lightly strength he had to move away from the group, by crawling. Though his action didn't go unnoticed.

"Look what you did. " The slightly alto-voiced Yami spoke, seeming disappointed. " You frighted him. " The slightly tanned male sighed standing up. Yami attempted to move closer to Yugi, but the smaller male narrowed his eyes at him in warning.

"Did not, it appears you frightened him. Just look at that glare. " Atem stated with a proud smirk, while he placed the bucket in his hand down on the ground.

Yugi blinked confused. He was glaring? Since when had he been glaring?

_**'I don't like them. '** _ The voice of his scythe spoke firmly in his head. Now it made sense, it was The Wicked Avatar glaring, not him.

'_Their our partners, give them a chance I'm sure their not that bad. Plus I'm not a person for glaring."_

**_'I am. '_**

Yugi released a sigh, causing questionable looks to be cast at him from the three males standing ahead of him.  
_'Just try it, would it be better if I... introduced your scythe form to them?' _  
_**'...Maybe.'** _Damn his scythe, he like a stubborn child!  
_**'Well so are you! You ungrateful host!'** _  
_'Oh just be quiet and deal with them! I have to, too!'_

The youngest shinigami out of the four males stood to his feet, placing his hands behind his back. "Mahad, I've gained my scythe. Would you like to see it?" Yugi told the oldest shinigami who looked thrilled from the good news.

The Egyptian nodded with a proud smile. "I would love to see it, Yugi."

**_ 'I'm not an it. I am a he.'_**  
_' You're an 'it' to them, so can it scythe boy.'  
__**'Wingless freak.' **  
__'Starfish head!'  
__**' Now that was just insulting yourself and your partners, what a cruel host you are.'**  
__'Just shut up, and come out !'_

Yugi looked oddly irritated as he held out his right palm. How on earth was he going to deal with this wicked avatar?  
_**'We aren't on earth, Host. Were in 'Sanctuary-' **_  
_'I know! It was a figure of speech!'_

Silence echoed in his mind peacefully, as he and the Wicked Avatar focused on materializing the scythe. Yugi closed his eyes concentrating on the task at hand. After a few seconds of nothing had ticked by, a small ball of dark purple matter formed in Yugi's hand. It grew slowly until it was the size of a base-ball, before it formed into a long black handle. Finally, the matter dispersed and Yugi was left with a long cool black metal staff falling into his hand. The moment his flesh and the dark metal made contact, his fingers curled around it. His right arm jerked with a mind of its own, slashing the space from the left side of his head to his right hip. It was after the harsh slash did a silver blade form at the tip of the black staff.

Yugi slowly opened his eyes, though he did not gaze at the three shinigami in front of him. Instead, his gaze was directed towards the simple scythe in his hand. It was twice as tall as his own height, and the blade was long as his arm-span. He could see his reflection on the newly formed blade, though long fog like swirls were making it the blade become cloudy. It was like the shadows his scythe had used to trap him, were swirling in the sliver surface of the sharp blade.

_**'So you aren't clueless after all.'** _Yugi ignored the comment and turned his gaze towards the three bystanders, waiting for a response.

" It's rather plain." Atem, the tanned Yami look a like, stated bluntly with his bare arms crossed against his clothed chest.  
Yami nodded in agreement. "I agree, it kind of is. "

**_'How dare they! I am a classic! My kind is rare and yet, they insult me? Those two shall pay for their insult!'_**  
"Wait!" Yugi spoke aloud, attempting to consul the Wicked Avatar, but it was too late. Yugi's very own shadow was used as a projectile and hurled at both Yami and Atem.

The two older males were quick to dodge the attack, letting it crash into the wall. Yugi on the other hand looked devastated. His own scythe had just attack his shinigami partners! What was he going to do?!

_**'That's simple, kill them.'** _He lost control of his right arm once more as it sent as slash towards the direction Atem was standing. A blade formed from black matter was sent at him, though it was quickly countered by Atem summoning his own scythe and casting the blow back towards Yugi. He only caught the glimpse of Atem's pure white scythe before his scythe quickly shielded his body."Wicked! Stop it!" The shinigami pleaded with his scythe, as it used itself to block the attack coming back at Yugi. Pain in Yugi's chest caused the boy to cry out and fall to his knees, dropping the scythe when they collided with the ground.

**_'Pick me up and stand on your feet! That was nothing, we have to prove to them that our power is not 'plain'! Now stand to your feet, Host!'  
_**

Unwillingly, Yugi's hands gripped his scythe and he stood slowly. He had look of guilt on his face as he reared his scythe over his head and charged at Yami, wide open. A rookie mistake.

"Yami, not too rough. Just get him know his place!" Commanded Atem, while Yami stood patiently as Yugi charged at him.

"I know, Atem. I'm just going to 'play' with him a bit." In a flash of light, Yami's chain scythe was in his hands. And another second later one of the scythe heads was hurdling through the air towards Yugi. The younger shinigami blocked it with the large blade of his scythe, but the blade of Yami's chain scythe had scratched Yugi's.

Red blood started to ooze out of the scratch, while Yugi and the Wicked avatar cried out in pain. Just above Yugi's left eye, a deep gash formed on his forehead. A river of crimson liquid flowed down his face, and trickled into his eye. Yugi cried out even louder as his blood stung is own eye. His eyelids shut protecting the sensitive organ from the liquid as it flowed over it and down to his cheek. He hadn't even lasted two seconds against Yami.

**_'Damn it... I'm still too weak. Host, this your fault! You picked horrible partners!'_ **  
"I didn't choose them, you stupid hunk of metal! " Yugi snapped at the scythe before lifting it up over his head, and throwing it on the ground with all of his available strength.

A sickening crack could be heard when the scythe collided with the ground. Right afterwards, an unbearable pain formed in between Yugi's pinky and ring-finger of his left hand, and traveled to his elbow. The day old shinigami cradled his hand to his chest and hissed from the pain.

"You damn scythe! You broke my hand! "  
**_'You dumb-ass! You broke cracked my fucking grip!'_**

"It's your fault! You pissed me off, because you blamed all this on me when you were the one who attack our partners for no reason!"  
**_'I get a bad feeling from those two you, wingless shinigami! They're evil!"_**

"For God's sake, they are not evil, Wicked Avatar! " Yugi choked out as he fought back the tears from the pain in his hand as he clinched it to his chest with his right hand.

With all that had occurred, Yugi was oblivious to what was happening around him other than his bickering with his scythe on the ground. Yami and Atem were slowly stalking towards their 'partner', armed and prepared to finish with a joined attack. They knew well that Yugi was their assigned partner but after this little brawl, their adrenaline was still pumping through their veins, and the instinct to finish off an opponent on high alert. If hadn't been for Mahad stopping them, Yugi would in far worse condition than just a cut, some bruising, and an injured hand.

"Ah-hem. " The clearing of the wise shinigami in robes throat, caught Yugi's attention and he turned his head over his shoulder to see one annoyed Mahad, and two very pissed off shinigami.

_'See what you did?'_

_**'I, did nothing.'** _  
_'Go suck Osiris' co-'_

Yugi's thought was interrupted when Mahad took a solid grip of his chin and turned his head from side to side, then up and down; examining it. " Hrmmm. " The priest like man released Yugi and went to pick up Yugi's scythe from the ground, but he was denied the privilege when the scythe burnt his hand when he touched it.

The older shinigami didn't flinched when his flesh was seared, he merely rubbed the pain away on his odd clothing. "The two of you are bonded. "

"Excuse me, but what does that mean Mahad?" Yugi asked, ignoring the insults from the Wicked Avatar as he did.

"It means you have a special natural connection to you scythe. It's rare, but your's is strong enough where the scythe can actually possess you, and the two of you share the feeling of pain and wounds. " He explained.

A sigh escaped from Atem's lips. Yugi looked over to see his scythe had already vanished once more, and the perfectly tanned male had his arms behind his head. Shame, he didn't get to see the details of Atem's beautiful white scythe. "So that's why you suddenly attack."

Yami could be heard chuckling, while the chain on his scythe rattled as he swung one of its blades around in a circle idly. "It is a shame though. Me and Atem were about to kill you. I thought you were an Onmyouji. "

"Onmyouji...?" Yugi had once heard the word from Mai, but she never explained what it was.

"Shinigami who have fallen to the weight of their deaths. They consume their scythes, absorbing them into their souls to obtain unknown power. They steal the souls of Shinigami and humans, trying to get their human life back. " Atem explained looking down at the dirt flooring. " They are evil beings who attempt to create a living hell. "

Yugi smiled nervously, and squeezed his injured hand for comfort, wincing from the action. "T-That's nice..." He said softly in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Mahad chuckled softly before he looked at Yugi's hand that was being pressed to his chest. It was already swelling and starting to become a sickening blueish-purple around the area of the injury.

"Why not let you scythe rest, I'm sure it's tired-"  
"He." Yugi corrected Mahad, who only nodded with an apologetic smile.  
"I'm sure 'he', is tired." He finished.

Yugi nodded, and sent a glare towards the piece of 'scrape metal' on the ground. _'Go rest, Wicked Avatar.'_  
Without a single word the scythe returned, and oddly his mind was at peace. Perhaps the scythe was too mad for words. Oh well, at least he could enjoy the normal quiet inside his mind.

Once the scythe had left, Atem and Yami were at his sides in just a few heart beats. Although Atem was keeping to himself, Yami was acting like an overly worried mother hen for her little chick, as he gently peeled Yugi's right hand away from his injured left. "Ouch... " He hissed before letting his slender fingers graze across the bruising flesh. "You'll need Isis' help for it."

"What about his forehead?" Yugi blinked when Atem spoke up, while he moved to Yami's side and used his left hand to raise Yugi's golden bangs. "It's a hell of a cut."

"I agree. " The paler of the two spoke as he attempted to dab away at the blood gushing down the right side of Yugi's face. " He'll be out of commission for a bit. "

"That's fine, we can handle it. He can learn by watching, then when he is healed, he can do it alone while we watch. " Atem stated.

"That'll do."

Some how Yugi had unsettling feeling in his stomach. He felt like a child being cared for, while his parent's plotted his punishment.

"We'll take him to Isis, Mahad. "Yami spoke up, as he moved away from his newest partner. Atem removed his hand, and Yugi's bangs fell back into place framing his rounded child like face.

"That's most likely the best thing to do, I'll call a head of the three of you so she can have things ready for when you arrive. " The elder replied, and started to leave the arena. "Take care, Yugi. And good luck!" The priest like male told the young shinigami.

"Thank you, and you take care too." The short seventeen year old male said with a warm smile as he watched the man who had done so much for him leave. He would have to give him a proper thanks when he recovered.

"We should be going, as well...Yugi can you fly?" Yami asked.

Yugi's face turned gloomy as he watched Yami relax his shoulders and his large feathery black wings form on his back. When Yugi casted his gaze at Atem his own wings had appeared. They were black as night like Yami's, but much large in sized and wingspan.

The smallest of the three shook his head regrettably. "No, I can't unfortunately. " He told the slightly tanned shinigami.

"Is the pain that bad?" Atem asked with a questionable gaze. Yugi shook his head.

"I don't have wings."

Silence befell the group of three, and Atem's sighing was the first to break it after several minutes. "Fine, we'll walk then." He replied, though he mumbled softly under his breath.

"It's fine Yugi, so stop making such a face." Yami sighed softly as he started to walk towards the dark hall that lead to the elevator he and Mahad had used earlier. Yugi blushed softly and quickly followed Yami. Had he really been displaying his distress over through his facial features?

Atem trailed behind Yugi, making sure he wouldn't stray from the path Yami was leading. Yugi felt slightly at ease with the two shinigami as his partners. So far they seemed nice enough to him, hell they even showed some concern for his injures from their little brawl. They may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but he was glad they were his partners.

But despite this, he felt like this wasn't right. Yugi felt as if something about the two males was atrocious. Maybe The Wicked Avatar was correct, maybe these two were evil.

After all, their wings were black.

* * *

**AR**: SORRY IT TOOK ME FOR FOREVER TO UPDATE.  
First it was an ice storm plus power outage. Then I got busy with softball and ice-skating practices.  
Finally my mom, brother, and grandpa all ended up in the hospital. (Thank god all of that is over now! And their fine plus healthy!)  
Not to mention my chaotic amount of homework for my classes!  
(I'm updating this at three in the morning so please forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes. I'll fix them later.)

I had to fit a bunch of events into one chapter so I can get on with the show, and give you guys the official entrance to Yami and Atem!  
Plus I think combining what was originally two chapters, was better for you guy. (You waited a while T.T )  
I'm a bit happy how this is turning out. I want to hear everyone's opinion on how the story is going so far so please tell me in a review!  
I really like Wicked Avatar's and Yugi's relationship. It's not always like it is in this chapter, but it's very similar to one of brothers.  
Also a little pre-warning, there will be a scene of smut next chapter! :'D  
I'll be doing updates on Mondays, every two weeks, and sometimes every week.  
I should have a new story out in a few days too.  
I'm very happy for all the love I have received from this story so far. 20 follows, 15 reviews, &amp; 25 favs. Thank you so much! 33  
Thank you for the lovely follows, favs., and reviews!  
Please remember to Read and Review! :')

**Guest review replies**: To my Guest reviewer, I like trains as well. x'D Your review was not rude, it actually made me laugh! Thank you. x'3  
To 'A', Thank you! I'm glad you didn't think it was boring. :')

**Words and terms to know**:  
Jaakuna abatā: Wicked Avatar. (Google translator was used.~)  
kusarigama: A chain scythe. In this case with Yami, it is a double blade, chain scythe. (Two-scythes)

**EDIT: ****_ There will be a delay for the next chapter. I'm having to attend to important family matters this week. The next chapter will be April 14th._**


	4. Chapter 4: A first for everything

**AN:** It's late, I know. Real life has been a roller coaster these past few weeks. Here's chapter four...

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**A first for everything.**

* * *

"It's not a major fracture, but your ulna is cracked near your carpals. " Isis, the woman in charge of Sanctuary's medical care; informed Yugi as she held his left hand in her tender tanned ones. " The X-ray here-" She turned in her chair to face the x-ray of Yugi's left hand on the small light panel. " Shows that it was a very close call for you. Had the force been a little more, then we would have an actual problem. You could have completely broken the bone and possibly a few carpals and metacarpals. Now that wouldn't be very fun for you."

The seventeen year old chuckled softly, though it was forced. " I suppose it wouldn't be, but this.." He used his right hand to gesture to his left hand that was swelled up, making it twice its normal size. " Isn't much fun either, Lady Isis. " Yugi informed the head of Sanctuary's medical department. " Though the numbing medication you gave me, does feel funny. " The tri-colored seven spiky haired boy told Lady Isis, as he attempted to wiggle his swallowed fingers.

Isis only chuckled as she placed Yugi's hand on his lap and moved on her rolling chair to drag a small table on wheels to the chair Yugi was sitting in. As the woman returned in front of Yugi with the table piled with the materials to cast his injured wrist, the shinigami took time to examine Isis's feature even further.

Isis was young, but old. Her complexion showed that she was roughly the same age as Mahad was, and her skin was also tan like the Egyptian priest. Oddly, her eyes were a dark blue with hints of gray, it reminded Yugi of Anzu's but the female Shingami's eyes were sharper. He noted that Isis wasn't like Mai, Mana, or even Rebecca. Her hair was a dark brown, almost black, and reached to her waist. She was in her own league. Although the woman was sweet to him now, but earlier Isis was like a demon with white wings when Atem and Yami had brought Yugi to her. It was terrifying. Isis oddly reminded Yugi about his mother.

" -at color would you like, Mr. Muto?"

"Eh?" Yugi blinked, dragging himself out of his thoughts. He looked at his injured hand finding it already wrapped in a soft fabric, leaving his fingers and thumb exposed. He wiggled them, causing tingling in the hand from the numbness.

"Your cast, What color would you like for it? " The female physician repeated as she stood from her rolling chair.

The younger shinigami thought for a moment, closing his eyes and scratching the side of his head with his right hand. His mind drew blank as the seventeen year old male shrugged lightly. " As long as it's not too girly, I don't mind the color. So anything is fine, Isis."

"Lady Isis." The female Shinigami corrected Yugi in a stern tone, as she walked over to one of the many gray cabinets in the small examination room.

Yugi released a forced round of chortles. " My bad, Lady Isis. " He apologized.

The violet eyes of the young male locked on to the pure white wings nestled in between the shoulder blades of the Egyptian Shinigami. Yugi couldn't help but feel a little envious of Isis's beautiful wings. They were much larger than Mahad's but smaller than Yami's wings. He looked over his shoulder to see if had magically sprouted wings of his own, but all he seen was the empty space and the wall behind him. Yugi pouted childishly.

" Isis, when will I get wings?" The younger shinigami asked, as the female shinigami returned with a roll of violet fiberglass wrapping.

"It depends." She placed the colored roll on the small table Yugi's injured hand was resting on, before she took her seat in the rolling chair. "Perhaps they'll come in when your powers have full matured, which is two full human years. They could also come in when you finally let go of your life as a human. Or,- " She paused putting on a pair of light blue latex gloves. "It could be something completely different keeping them from coming in. But I'm sure they will 'blossom' when you're ready. " Isis informed her patient with a reassuring tone as she soaked the fiberglass in the bowl of water, before wringing it out.

Yugi sighed softly as he watched Isis carefully began to wrap the violet fiberglass over the soft wrap that cover his palm, wrist, and his half of his forearm. He watched her wrap the damp material quickly with skilled hands. In the young male's mind he wondered just how many casts Isis had done. Ten...Fifty...One-hundred...A thousand? Only the female would know herself.

The wingless Shinigami released a yawn as he watched Isis continue to wrap his arm with the fiberglass. Yugi though he would fall asleep right then and there was it not the faint mumbling that could be heard from a conversation in front of the door dark gray door of the examination room. Both he and Isis turned the gaze towards the door, with the hopes to make some sense of the mumbles.

* * *

"How long do you think Isis will have him out of commission?" Yami questioned Atem, while he leaned against the wall, next to the door of the examination room Yugi, his new partner, was located in.

"Hmm... Given the way his hand looked and force from Isis slap earlier..." The tan version of Yami trailed off as he rubbed his slightly red cheek. " Maybe five to six weeks. Seven at the most. " He replied to his partner.

Yami looked at the older Shinigami in front of him, his ruby colored irises with the hints of purple warm and calculating as the took in the slowly fading red hand print on Atem's right cheek. The pale Shinigami released a soft round of amused laughter, and smirked tauntingly. "You know, I think that hand print on your face really brings out your eyes."

Atem narrowed his maroon colored eyes at the younger Shinigami leaning against the wall. " I think that someone might want to hush before they have a sore ass later on. " The Egyptian hissed, with his accent making his threat sound even more menacing.

Yami rolled his eyes at the tanned Shinigami's threat, not taking him seriously. "Mhmm, and Yugi will sprout wings over night."

"Yami, that could very well happen. "

The younger male shook his head lightly at Atem." I don't believe so, you know better than anyone it takes nearly weeks for one's wings to start to appear, if they aren't 'born' with them."

The corner of Atem's lips pulled downward slightly, making it seem as if he was going to pout. " Everyone is different, _anok-Ieb-mrwt_*"

Yami narrowed his eyes at Atem, while the Egyptian male smirked deviously. His smirk was that of a devil's. A devious, proud, seductive devil.

" Atem, you know very well your native language is dead. Should someone other than Mahad. Isis, or I hear it, you will sound like a lunatic." Yami snapped at his partner of ninety years.

"How do you know if it's my native language?" The older male taunted Yami with a playful glint in his eyes. " After all, I have no memories of the past before you re- mmph!" Atem's mouth was firmly covered by Yami's slender hand.

The paler male leaned forward, keeping a firm grip on Atem's jaw with his long fingers as he pressed his mouth to the shell of the Egyptian's ear. " Zip it. Or I'll have Isis give me a syringe to place up your ass!" He whispered into the other's ear, making the tanned Shinigami shutter.

Atem lifted his own slender hand, and pried Yami's hand away from his mouth. " You're oddly cranky today, _Mrwt_." Atem intertwined his and Yami's finger as he held his partner's hand. "Did I hurt you too much last night?"

The paler male huffed and turned his head abruptly away from the Egyptian. Even though he was trying to remain composed, Atem could see the faint pink forming over Yami's cheeks and nose. "You're just full of yourself." He defended himself, closing his eyes. "I'm irked by the fact we won't be getting our vacation. We were only eleven missions away!"

Low chuckling echoed around Yami, causing the paler male to open an eye and glance at his devious teammate.

"Maybe I can have shorty make it up to us, by accompanying on our mission tonight?" He informed Yami, grabbing his chin and turning the other's head so he could looking into the pools of red wine with a splash of grape juice, Yami had for eyes.

"Tonight? If I recall, we do not have another mission for another two days."

"Not anymore." Atem pulled away from Yami, putting his hand into the left pocket of his crimson basketball shorts and pulled out a white soul-phone, he quickly showed Yami the email he had received from Ryou earlier in the morning. "Ryou and Blondie needs help in Okinawa, we'll be going there this evening to take care of their last collection. " He gave a wink to his partner.

Yami smirked at Atem, crossing his arms over his chest. " A collection eh? Those only take a few minutes to settle. "

"Correct, Yami." Atem gave him a cheeky wink and half a smile. "I've already made a reservation at a hotel this morning."

"Two bedroom, right?"

"Uh...no?" The older male raised an eyebrow at his partner that mirrored his looks. "Why?"

" Oh dear Ra..." The pale Shinigami placed the fingertips of his right hand on his forehead, while his palm cover his face. " Atem, we have the little one to take care of, remember? The 'newbie'."

"Ah, right!" His left hand had became a fist, and he lightly hit his right palm with the bottom of it. "Damn, I forgot about the little guy when I was making arrangements." The Egyptian sighed as he ran one of his slender hands through his seven-spiked hair of crimson and ebony, with golden bangs like lightning framing his face. "Can't he just sleep on the couch?"

Yami thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. " I guess that would be fine."

"The it's settled then, he'll sleep on the couch." Atem said rather proudly. "Problem solved."

"Not quite." Atem blinked looking over his shoulder when a female voice spoke up. His maroon colored eyes spotted Isis with her arms crossed over her bosom, while a curious Yugi was peeking his head out from the examination room.

" Oh Isis, you're here."

" Yes, now about that mission of your's. Yugi is only allowed to observe, and that is all he'll be doing until I clear him. " A dissatisfied groan could be heard from said teen.

"Very well, we'll make sure he watches us carefully and stays out of the action." Yami spoke in a 'sugar-coated' tone to Isis, while forcing a smile. " Atem here,-" Yami patted Atem on his back lightly"- will have Osiris look after him, if we were to go anywhere while he recovers."

A soft sigh escaped from the older male's lips. " You know, he'll complain every second about it." Atem informed Yami giving him an exhausted look. "I'm already sick of it, and it's yet to begin. "

" Deal with it, it's for the best Atem." Isis told her fellow Egyptian as she ushered Yugi out of her examination room. Both Yami and Atem observed Yugi's purple fiberglass cast. He could still wield his scythe, Yami concluded. But, it would be with some difficulty. Yami blinked when Isis pushed Yugi along until he was directly in front of both him an Atem. His ruby-red eyes glanced from Yugi to Isis.

"I leave him in your care. Oh, and one of you will have to carry him if you were to decide to fly. His wings will not be coming in for a very long time." The female explained smiling deviously. "Have fun."

"Wait Isis -" Before either Yugi could speak to the older shinigami, the female's body quickly vanished leaving only a single white feather in her place.

With a heavy sigh Yugi faced his teammates for the first time together, without any fighting. " So where are we going?"  
The two males that appeared to be twins looked at each other with the same devilish grin before responding in sync.

"Okinawa."

* * *

What Yugi had first thought of when he heard that he would be joining his partners to Okinawa for his first mission; was that he couldn't wait to go warm his skin under the light blue cloudless skies, and swim in the crystal clear deep blue waters.

But that was not the case when he arrived in Okinawa with Atem and Yami.

The blues skies were actually nearly pitch black, discolored and heavy with water it would soon release down on to the earth. The air was clammy and humid as a light mist fell from the gloomy skies, foreshadowing the in coming down pour. To add to Yugi's dismay, the three weren't even near the ocean! In fact, they were walking down a slightly flooded ally while Atem lead them blindly to their 'job'.

" I thought Okinawa had white sand beaches and perfect weather." Yugi announced, making his disappointment known as he pulled the hood of his pale blue zip-up hoodie even farther over his head, hiding most of his wild hair.

"Mmm, Most of the time but it's known for their rather horrid monsoons too." Yugi glanced up at the jacket-less Yami. Oddly there was a hint of agitation, in the older male's voice as he had spoken to the new shinigami. He even had a slightly upsetting look in his eyes. Yugi looked down at his black and white tennis-shoes. So he wasn't the only one bummed out about the forbidding weather.

" It's just a little rainstorm, I'm sure it will blow over in just a few hours and then the weather will be pleasant." Atem spoke to the two as he looked down at his soul-phone then back up at the road a head of them. He pocketed the device into the back pocket of his black form-fitting leather pants with a sigh , before turning to face his two partners.

Jotting his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at a small traditional Japanese house barely in sight, his demeanor went solemn. " Yugi inside that house you will witness your first 'exorcism'. Shinigami are the spirits of dead souls who died and deceived their fate, I hope you know that already; but despite that..." His eyes glanced at Yami, who was sighing as he ran a hand through his identical gravity defying hair.

" Humans can still see us...Have you read the hand book yet?" The shinigami with a mix of crimson and violet in his irises, asked Yugi.

The youth shook his head slowly, causing Atem to groan.

"Great, now we have to go through 'all' the basics." the tan male released a heavy sigh." What a pain. "

Yami rolled his eyes at his oldest team-mate before returning his gaze on Yugi. " We'll show some of the basics in this case but while we are, please remain quiet and in the corner of the room. It'll be troublesome if you spoke up, the 'client' might become uneasy."

The wingless shinigami nodded, narrowing his gentle round eyes."I understand." he spoke in a serious tone that hardly suited him.

Satisfied with his answer, Yami gave him a brief smile before a black fabric obscured his eyesight for a moment, before the weight of a heavy cloth was settled on his shoulders. Yugi blinked, looking down at his feet he noticed a pitch black cloak covered his entire body. His eyes widened as he glanced up when a hood was tugged over his head. " Remember, not a word and..." Yugi watched as Yami, who was now sporting the same type of cloak Yugi over his black leather pants and sleeveless violet shirt; glance back at Atem who was also dressed similar to his partners. "Be kind to Osiris, Atem's familiar."

"Eh?" The violet eyed teen tilted his head. "Familiar?"

" Yes a familiar, he's the snake around Atem's shoulders," Yami gestured to their partner.

At first Yugi had not even noticed the serpent coiled around Atem, until he squinted and noticed the scale like pattern around his neck area. "Ah. "

Yugi watched curiously as Atem looked over his shoulder with an emotionless poker face. " We need to hurry, the clouds will released their wrath soon..." The Egyptian spoke, his accent rather thick with his words, sending shivers down Yugi's back.

"Right, spells are hard to maintain in the rain anyway." Yami added in and started to walk toward the slightly taller male, leaving Yugi behind to play 'catch up'.

"Mmhh, but do you mind being in charge of the spell? "  
"Not at all, Atem. I am more skilled at it than you are."  
" I wouldn't say more, but you can hold for longer."

"Hey.. wait up guys.." Yugi's voice was like background noise to Atem and Yami as the continued to walk forward towards the traditional Japanese house. Both Atem and Yami paused, just a meter away from their goal, looking back at Yugi while waiting for him to catch up.

"Damn, he's slow." Yami bluntly expressed his impatience to the chuckling Atem.  
"We have the rest of eternity to increase his speed, Yami."

Atem flashed a smirk at Yami as Yugi finally reached their location. "I'll have that boy whipped till he is faster than sound."

"You'll have who whipped?" Yugi tried to sound confused though his panting from running struggling to keep up with his partners.

Atem sighed and dismissed the comment with a regal wave of his left hand. " Nothing, little one."  
"Little one? I'm not much shorter than you, Mr. Spray tan!" Yugi snapped.

Atem was about to retaliate back from Yugi's comment, but Yami had stopped him from doing something so reckless while out on a mission. "Tch, whatever." He turned pressed forward, crossing his arms over his chest while muttering under his breath.

Yami pursed his lips together, before scowling at both of his partners; new and old. " Stop acting like simpletons. We have a job." Yami's eyes that were normally warm, were now frozen over with an austere presence that was demanding to be respected. Yugi nodded quickly, several times in a row while Atem huffed like a stubborn child.

The Egyptian muttered something in a foreign language under his breath, barely loud enough to hear but Yami seemed to understand it give a smirk to Atem, while their other partner's lips tugged downward in a frown. Eyes like the colors of burning embers met those of cool red wine, became locked in a silent conversation that left Yugi feeling awkward.

"Um guys..." The shortest out of the three spoke up, breaking the silent conversation between Yami and Atem and attracting their emotionless gazes towards him.

"We have work to do, remember?" The windless shinigami reminded the older males, tugging at the hood of his black cloak. " I hate to break your...'staring contest', but if I recall there's a soul needing help with crossing, so it may find eternal rest."

Yami nodded, turning on his heel, and lead the trio to the short distance. " Remember Yugi-" Yami spoke up. " Keep quiet, And keep to the side lines." The shinigami instructed the new recruit who nodded his head sharply.

"Right, observe and make mental notes."

Atem scoffed at Yugi's statement, but neither of the paler males bothered to pay it any attention as Yami reached out for the front door with a slender hand.

_"Tenebrae, atque occultare coram nobis. Qui caecus esse moror, sed ab illis qui abeunt. *"_

Yugi squinted his eyes against the bright light that surrounded Yami's hand. The new shinigami took in all the event had to offer as Yami lightly placed his glowing finger tips against the sliding doors of the home. The shinigami's black wings extended behind him, coming out of hiding as he closed his eyes.

_"Hac in hora, aperite portam. Iudicari animae duximus. Benedicite manserimus hic, dum operamur. Hic liber ab eius oneribus anima damnati!*"  
_

* * *

Being a shinigami was baffling. One moment Yugi was standing off to Yami's right just out side of the house their 'client' was dwelling inside, and next he was inside a room with an ill-looking youth laying on a futon. He oddly found his memory lapsing on how he had entered the room but that, was the furthest thing from his train of thought when he took a closer look at the sickly woman laying on the futon.

Her features were soft and full of youth. She was young, in the late teens or early twenties if Yugi had to guess. Her curly strawberry blonde hair clung to her feverish face, the only color in her features. The female's closed eyes revealed her long thick eyelashes, complimenting her petite figure. If the woman wasn't so ill, Yugi would have thought she could be the next playboy bunny at the playboy mansion.

"Rina, age twenty-four. Day of birth; May first, 19XX. You have recently fallen ill after given birth to a healthy baby girl, the first birth after two miscarriages. Today, your time has run out. " Atem's voice was like a demon with a heart of stone. His voice should no compassion, no sympathy, no emotions. It was like a recording.

The female's eyes opened slowly, revealing deep blue irises that resembled the calm sea. Yugi froze, shivering how much the shape and color reminded him of Anzu's beautiful sapphire eyes. The youngest Shinigami dropped his gaze, looking at his feet. He didn't need to think of that woman as Anzu. This woman, Rina, was on her death-bed. He couldn't and wouldn't dare to think of Anzu being in such a state. He could already feel his un-dead heart being ripped from his chest.

" Ran...Out...?" The dying female's voice was soft and pure, hinting at her weariness, but her lovely blue eyes sparkled with life. "That cannot be. I still have a daughter to raise, a husband to love! This is just flu." He voice became distraught, as she rose to her feet and dashed for the bedroom door, but she paused her escape when she couldn't find a door or window in her room. "Wh-What?"

" Rina." Atem spoke out as he summoned his scythe. " I apologize, but you are fated to die today. You are to die from a virus, one that was fatal. " The Egyptian took a two-handed grip on the solid white scythe.

"N-No!"

Yugi looked up from his feet spotting the client pressed against a wall, while Atem was armed with his scythe. It was the first time Yugi had seen the elegant scythe up close. The blade was almost pitched black, with the rest of Atem's scythe was solid white. It had an appearance and aura of a weapon for a king. It was fitting for the male surprisingly.

"Please! I beg you, I can't die! I don't want to die! My family needs me, if I leave them now-"

Rina,screamed as her upper torso was slashed by Atem's scythe without restraint or mercy. Yugi was stupefied, violet eyes widened with the emotions that pulsed through his body as he watched the female drop to her knees. His vision became blurry, while his eyes started to sting. Rage. That was the only thinkable thing he could describe this feeling as he curled his right into a tight fist.

His body shook slightly, as he watched with tears pooling in his eyes as Atem slashed at the female again, extracting a ball of white energy from 'Rina's now lifeless body.

" What the hell!" Yugi shouted out at Atem. "Were you deaf to her pleas? Did you not hear the girl? She has a family! A new-born to take care of! H-how could you? How could you take her life!?"

The room fell silent from Yugi's words, besides the soft sniffles that came from the seventeen year old. Yugi hardly ever cried during his life as a human, even when he was tormented by Ushio! The young male took shaky breath's through his mouth, his nose was clogged with mucus. "D-Do you... Do you two have no heart?"

Neither Atem or Yami replied however, Yami did move away from his spot by the wall farthest from Rina's futon. He casually passed Atem, patting his back on the way past him as he took Rina's soul into his hands.

"Yugi." Yami spoke up, turning to face the boy as he held the orb of pure white light like it was a fragile child. " We can not go against our orders. We can not show mercy, or compassion. We are Shinigami, not angels. "He said simply, shaking the hood from his head, causing it fall and reveal his own tri-colored spiked hair with lightning like bangs. " Even if we show compassion, it may only cause harm to the soul. We could crush it, with just a few words if we are not careful. We have to either be silent, or ruthless. "

"But that's -"

"It's why angel's passed this duty on to us. Since we deceived our own fates, we should be punished by sending other's to their deaths in a the coldest way possible." Atem finally spoke up, interrupting Yugi's wavering voice as he allowed his scythe to vanish into the thin air, while Yami sent Rina's soul to purgatory.

" But that makes no sense! What if we didn't want to die at that given moment, but had no other choice?" Yugi's voice rose an octave as he debated with Atem. " Why would angels torture us?!"

" How the hell am I supposed to know?" The Egyptian snapped at Yugi, his eyes glaring at the youth.  
"You're the oldest out of all three of us! I would expect you to have some clue about why things are like this!"  
"Well sorry to burst your bubble, brat; but I have no clue why I am even here to begin with! If it wasn't for Yami, I would be rotting away!"

"Rotting away? Your body has already been rotting away mister. If you don't remember, we're all dead." Yugi took a few steps forward so his torso was pressed to Atem's." Ever single one of us." He spoke in harsh whispers. "W-We're all dead." Tears cascaded from Yugi's eyes once more, as recalled his death. The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotion turmoil his heart was in. Instead of trying to intimidate Atem like was earlier, the youth was pressing his face against's the man's chest. Grateful that it was covered by the black cape, as he sobbed into it." We c-can't take that back, we're stuck with it."

"You're wrong." Yugi stopped his sniffling look up and directed his amethyst colored eyes towards Yami when he spoke, causing the wingless shinigami released Atem's cloak, turning his back to the silent Egyptian.

"W-What? I'm not wrong we are dead for good." Yugi told Yami, who rolled his eyes.

"No one in Sanctuary is truly dead. Each of us has a second chance at life, we just have to search for it. While doing work for the angels. " Yami moved away from the lifeless corpse of Rina and stood at Atem's side, resting his arm on the tan male's shoulder. "The work keeps us sane, a reminder that we haven't truly lost our life and have to search for it. If we don't -"

" Us shinigami, will become Onmyouji. A Shinigami who has lost their sanity, their humanity. " Atem finished for Yami, draping his arm on to Yami's shoulder. "Now I think we should leave. That woman's body just defecated itself. " The Egyptian claimed wrinkling his nose.

Yugi smiled softly, though he would have offered a larger grin had he felt like it. " Right, her family is probably going to show up soon anyway. " He responded faking a positive attitude despite his negative feelings.

Yami sighed in relief. "Finally, I can drop the spell once were out of the area then." He leaned against Atem's broader frame, using to other to support himself up. "It' exhausting for me to keeping confinement spells for more than an hour. "

"Well good thing it's only been twenty minutes, eh?" Atem replied to his tired partner with a light chuckle.

Yami pouted, causing Yugi to let out his own soft laughter from the expression of the male with his same skin tone. He wiped the streaming tears from his puffy eyes, oblivious that his laughing caught the attention of his partners.

"Haha, laugh as much as you want to now, but when you get your cast off you'll be seeing just how hard maintaining that spell is!" Yami forewarned Yugi. "It's not as easy as it looks, it takes a lot of energy. "

"I'm sure it's not that bad." Yugi protested in a taunting fashion.

"You'll see soon enough."

* * *

Yugi was well aware that things were bound to be 'unwell' when they left the sight of Yugi's first mission.( Although he did nothing but yell at the two and cause them trouble, after they sent the female's soul to the next world. ) The air around them was tense, Atem was lingering behind Yugi, his nose in the white soulphone he possessed, while Yami lead them towards their hotel with Yugi following behind him. The clouds above them appeared as if they would give birth to a storm soon, while soft crackles of thunder echoed in the silence between the three shinigami. It was an awkward feeling for Yugi.

The soft footsteps of Atem stopped, causing Yami to stop in his tracks which resulted in Yugi nearly bumping into the older male. "H-Hey, a little warning ...next time..." Yugi sighed noticing Yami wasn't even giving him the time of day, with his dark crimson eyes focused in on the frozen Atem a few feet behind them.

Yugi blinked, watching the Egyptian male act like a statue with his violet colored eyes, before Atem glanced up from his phone and scan both Yugi and Yami.

"Yami, Bakura seems to be in the area. He's close by. I can feel it. " Atem's voice seemed full of hatred and concern. The black snake coiled around his neck, hissed softly, and slowly slithered itself down Atem's body before stalking towards Yugi and Yami. Both males with peaches and cream like complexion ignored the creature, with their eyes locked on Atem.

"How close?" Yami appeared threatened. Yugi could feel the tension roll of his body in waves of heat, it was an uncomfortable feeling.

"A five-minute run due east, maybe less. If we hurry, we can leave before he notices-Yami!" Atem sprinted past Yugi, who was oblivious that his other partner had left them breaking out in a sprint in the direction that the person with the name Bakura, was in.

"Guys!" Yugi was about to take off, until he felt a slick warm scaly like rope climb up his legs until it came to rest on his shoulders. The seventeen year old shivered, before looking down spotting Osiris wrapped securely around his neck. Just loose enough to allow the shinigami breathe. Attempting to ignore the creature making his shoulders and chest his personal bed, Yugi took of after Yami and Atem as fast as his legs could carry him.**_  
_**

_**"Faster! "**_

Unwillingly, his light run turned into a daring sprint after his partners, after the one single command from his scythe. Yugi loathed the way his body would listen to the weapon over him, it always ended with him receiving the negative effects. Like his fractured left wrist, and the now burning sensation in his lungs from his harsh breathing. It was torture.

_**"It's not torture, you spoiled host. You're out of shape."**_

_'Am not!' _Yugi shouted at the scythe mentally as he trailed the faint out line of Atem's black cloak flapping behind him. The younger male spotted the Egyptian taking a sharp turn to the left. With determination to catch up to the other shinigami, Yugi took the same left emerging on another wide residential road, much like the one the house Rina had lived her last moments in.

His eyes scanned the area till Yugi's soft amethyst hues landed on Atem's paused figure, which happened to be next to Yami. Both were tense and had summon their scythes. Curious, Yugi peeked passed them to see the reason why his partners had summon their weapons.

Just a few meters in front of both the older Shinigami, was a figure cloaked in solid black. He had only saw the glimpse of silver hair before his vision started to fade to black.

_'W-What's happening? What's going on?'_

Yugi was panicking, fearful of the darkness masking his vision. **_  
_**

**_"I know that man! I know him! He's the one! The one who told me how to gain a body!"_**

Yugi hissed at the pain throbbing that exploded behind his temples once Wicked Avatar spoke. Though his vision was impaired, the shinigami could see a scene; hazy as the black fog of his 'blindness' prevented him from seeing it clearly. He could make out two figures, one that was identical to his shadow and another one that was just a blob of black. _'This... Is this... Happening now? No, It's.. Something else, something that happened a long time ago.'_

Despite his crippled sight, he could hear the voices as if they were being spoken directly in his eardrums.

_**"Who are you? Leave **__**before I strike you down where you ** _" A voice, one which Yugi as his scythe's; spoke with such raw emotions of bitterness at the other.

_"Teh, as if a scythe with no physical form could defeat me. A Onmyouji."_ A new voice, one unfamiliar but with an accent Yugi recognized; replied in an arrogant tone.

The wingless Shinigami focused more on the vision he was seeing, but to no avail. He couldn't clear up the fog that was preventing him from seeing the sight clearly.

Yugi heard a low growl. "**Get out of my sight, you on grateful being. An Onmyouji has no business standing in front of me. Now Leave!"**

_"Are you sure you want me to leave?_ " The unknown voice that belong to the black blob of Yugi's vision, asked the Wicked Avatar. _'I have the key to what both you seek, and what that boy will seek."_

There was a long pause, more than just a few minutes long before the voice similar to his own spoke up."**_...I'm listening."_**

The was a dark sinister chuckle. _"All right then! Now all you have to do is either help that boy gain his human life back, or control his body with force. "_

**"Heh, is that all there is to it?"** Yugi could practically hear the large chaotic grin in his scythe's voice. "**That will be easy! The boy is a weak little coward. Hell, since I 'separated' from my spoiled brat, he's even more vulnerable!"**

_"Don't underestimate your host."_ The unknown voice replied with a hint of amusement in its deep chaotic baritone vocals._"The souls who are to become shinigami are powerful, more so than you think. If you're not careful they'll gobble you up and force you to confine to their demands!"_

**_"I will never submit to an ungrateful brat! I cannot, and will not be controlled in such a disgraceful manner!"_**

_"Then do it! Drive him into insanity, consume his soul, feed of his power and become the ultimate scythe, a scythe with its own body!"_

**_"I will!"_**

The hazy scene faded back into the bitch blackness of Yugi's blinded state. The voice turned into whispers then finally faded into silent nothingness. His mind ran over what he had just 'imagined'. Thinking it was not real, just some vision he had dreamed of to keep himself busy. But then again, he pondered why he would do such a thin in the first place.

**_"You didn't, that was my memory. I shared with you, ungrateful host!"_ **The voice of The Wicked Avatar echoed in his mind, intensifying and reawakening the head ache he was earlier suffering from.

"Make it stop! Stop giving me such a headache!" Yugi mentally shouted at the scythe.

**_"I'm not doing a damn thing to you!"_ **The scythe's voice rose in anger, causing Yugi even more pain.

"Just make it stop! I'll do anything, if you get this intolerable pain to go away!"

**_"Anything?"_ **He could practically hear the smirk in the being he shared his body and part of his soul with.

"YES!" The wingless shinigami cried out in pure agony. "I'll do anything for you!"

**_"Then had it over, host."_**

"H-Hand what over?"

The was only the sound of a voice so similar to his, yet so much different to his chuckling maliciously.  
**_"Give me the control over your body."_**

* * *

The darkness was lifted from Yugi's vision, relieving his headache and giving the sense of sight back to the Shinigami. However, he couldn't move, he could only just simply take in the sight for a mere moment as he focused in on his surroundings. Yugi's mind was blank, his eyes were unseeing despite watching his two partners with intensity.

Atem and Yami were engaged in combat with the figure in black. While the snake, Osiris, was still secured firmly around Yugi's neck. The cashes of blades, the whooshing of air, the shouting of spells, and screams of battle cries of the three men who fought were deaf to Yugi's ears. He could not feel the cold pouring rain that fell from the sky on his skin, no matter how much it caused his body to shiver.

None of it mattered to him. None of it. After all it wasn't him who was in control anymore, it was his scythe who was experiencing everything for him. He was just simply watching.

"Heh, heh."

The sounds of the fight filled his ears, it was the most beautiful sound he had heard in his entire existence. Along with sounds of those two getting their asses handed to them.

"Heh, hehehehe" His chaotic laugh mingled in with symphony of Atem's and Yami's struggles with fighting the man with the black cloak. Though it grew, and started to over come the sounds of the battle.

Distracted Yami allowed himself to look away from the fight, and direct his gaze towards the maliciously laughing Yugi. "What's gotten in to him, Osiris-"

A loud scream of pure pain, echoed into the night. Yami fell to the ground, dropping his chain scythe, clenching his abdominal area with on arm while supporting his body with the other. A stream of thick red liquid flowed from his mid section, cascading into his hand then over flowing and dripping on to the wet concrete below. The Shinigami gritted his teeth, forcing himself to be silent, as he mentally cursed himself.

Yugi's chaotic laughter hadn't stopped. Atem was becoming distracted because of Yugi's insane state and Yami's grovelling on the ground. At this rate even the Egyptian was going to be slain; struck down and decapitated by their enemy.

"Just a little laughter distracted you, Yami Sennen? And You, Atem who doesn't even have a last name, only on the defensive? My my, such pathetic partners my host has for a team." Yugi's voice said out loud, yet it did not belong to Yugi. His words caught the attention of not just Yami and Atem, but also the man they had fought.

Under the hood covering the man's face, a wide chaotic grin grew. " Oh ho, so he really was that weak? A job well done, scythe." The man in black spoke as he lifted his leg up, and pushed the distracted Atem away from him.

"Teh, I wish. He's still clinging on like stubborn brat he is, but..." An uncharacteristic smirk grew on the wingless shinigami's face as he held out his right hand, keeping his injured left on by his side. " Even if I can't have a full control over him, it is more than enough to send you to hell! "

The dark matter similar from earlier in the day, when Yugi had first summoned his scythe, appeared in the right palm of his possessed body. The sphere of the unknown substance quickly morphed into the long black staff of Wicked Avatar's true form. The black scythe was blade-less, as it's 'soul' used Yugi's body as its own. " Let's dance Onmyouji. Tell me more about how to obtain my own body! Before I send you to hell!"

A sinister round of laughter came from the male in the black cloak similar to Yugi's. The male lowered his hood, revealing his identity to the Wicked Avatar. " Oh? You want to 'dance with me, then damn me? You're such puny scythe, overestimating your abilities. "

The Onmyouji, was sickening similar to Ryou. The only major differences were is sharp red eyes, and his un-kept long white hair. Although the Wicked Avatar had no real connection to Ryou, he could still feel his host's uneasiness from the sight of the male.

A low growl came from the scythe possessing Yugi, tightening the his grip of his right hand on the blade-less scythe, before charging straight at the albino like Onmyouji. " You don't know a damn about my abilities!" He hissed, jumping into the air just a foot away from his enemy, and using all his might to slash down at the male.

His attack however, was wasted. He had missed the other when the Onmyouji had dodged the attack by taking a leap backwards. He was unarmed, but the possessed wingless shinigami wasn't letting his guard down because of it. " Bastard. Running away are you?"

"Heh,not at all, I just don't think a lowly creature such as yourself should be able to touch me." Bakura lowered himself into a crouch, grinning sadistically. " Though I have no problems with ripping you to shreds!"

"Like hell you could!" Yugi's voice screamed out while his body charged forward without his permission.

The Onmyouji's left hand stretched forward, aimed at Yugi. The wingless Shinigami had ignored it. His scythe only looking for an opening as he he reared the blade-less scythe back to attack. Yugi's own shadow sprung forward, attempting to capture Bakura's feet but failed when the Onmyouji jumped from the ground and tackled the Shinigami controlled by his own scythe. There was a sickening crack when Yugi's head slammed into the concrete below him.

Claws from the hand of the white haired male dug into the skin of his neck as its owner applied downward force to keep Yugi from moving. The scythe hissed and squirmed, looking for any weakness in the male pinning him. "Damn it!"

A smug smirk appeared on the Onmyouji's face. "What was that about me not being apply to tear you to shreds? I've got you in check, little brat."

"Li-Like hell you do. " The scythe sputtered, before spitting into the albino's face.

An angered growl was emitted from the Onmyouji's throat, as he wiped his face clean from the wingless Shinigami's spit with his free hand, before putting it to the boy's throat to join his other hand. "You little bitch! I'll strangle you!" Bakura's deep sinister voice was muffled to the Wicked Avatar. His host was being deprived of oxygen, thus making his own senses become weak.

_' Y-You're killing me!'_ Yugi's soft voice echoed in his scythe's mind as Wicked Avatar struggled to think of an escape.

**_'I'm aware of that! I'm dying too, you know!'_** He replied closing his eyes so he could gain better concentration.

With every second that passed, the scythe thought his host's lungs were going to collapse from the deprived oxygen. His chest felt heavier and he could hear a heart beat thudding his ears, which slowed the more the scythe struggled to get free from Bakura's strangling. "Sh-Shit."

The Onmyouji sadistic laughter filled the area and with each 'Ha!', Wicked Avatar had thought of an idea that wouldn't work until it dawned on him. Where was his host's partners? Those bastards, were probably using him as a distraction to run away. He didn't care one had gotten slash by the Onmyouji, and the other... well Wicked Avatar had no damn clue what happened to the tanned one. He just vanished from sight.

_'To hell with them!'_ The scythe hissed in his mind. With his vision fading quickly, he took one more observation of his enemy, hoping to escape from his pending death. When his host's darkened eyes caught a possible way to escape, the scythe threw out all of his respect for a good fight.

Bakura's knees straddled both side of his hips, leaving his crotch area defense-less and wide open for an attack. One which Wicked Avatar took greedily.

Using Yugi's knee, the scythe willed the joint to thrust up ward and strike his opponent hard in his growing. A shriek of pain followed by Bakura releasing him to cradle the injury, gave the scythe access to the much-needed supply of oxygen he had been cut off from.

" You son of a bitch! I'll fucking kill you!" Bakura hissed, trying to grabbed the wingless Shinigami's body, but the chaotic scythe forced it to roll away from the other, till he was at a safe distance to stand to his feet.

"You tried, and failed. So, I see no point in how you will succeed this time." The scythe teased, sticking out his tongue and wiggling it around at Bakura.

He took a quick guard, when the Onmyouji snarled. The scythe had calculated the other would attack just as he managed to get to his feet, but Bakura wasn't even allowed to stand. There were two certain scythes pressed to his neck.

"Heh, you healed him that quick? I'm surprised." The albino smirked as he looked up at the male in front of him.

Atem pressed the point of his blade into Bakura's skin, causing a small trail of red liquid to trail down the black blade. "The wound was like a paper cut. It was shallow, a weak blow. It would be a shame if one couldn't use their powers to heal it with in just a few minutes."

Yami wrapped his chain around their captive's neck, he glanced to his side at the stunned possessed shinigami, whose mouth was hanging open. " What should we do with that one, Atem." He nodded towards Yugi. " At the moment he's catching flies in his mouth, would it not be a good idea to immobilize him-"

He was cut off when the Onmyouji growled inhuman-like. " You two just sat in the pouring rain, watching my idiotic host's body be choked?" The scythe picked his 'lifeless' blade-less body from the ground, aiming the staff at Atem and Yami. " You two are dead!"

His shadow swirled at his feet, until Wicked Avatar commanded them to form a a blade for his scythe. While doing this however, Bakura's own shadows quickly attacked Atem, causing the Egyptian to remove his scythe away from his throat, and causing Yami to become distracted for the brief minute he needed to escape from the chain wrapped around his neck.

"As much as I would love to see the shrimp give you an ass-kicking, I have to run. Next time I'll kill the three of you the moment I spot you!" The ground below opened up a portal beneath Bakura's feet. The black swirls clung to his ankles dragging the Onmyouji downwards in to the black hole.

"You damn coward!" Wicked Avatar screeched and attempted to decapitate Bakura with one powerful swing of his original body. Though he was deprived of the chance when the former Shinigami had disappeared into the portal, leaving the scythe to only cut the empty air. "Damn it! I nearly had him! Why did you two bastards let him go?!"

"We're not bastards you bipolar kid!" Atem snapped at Yugi's scythe, thinking it was the young Shinigami. The Egyptian quickly snatched Yugi's body by his black cloak, lifting him off the ground. Atem was speaking in a hostile tone with unknown words. The scythe looked uninterested while he kept his eyes locked with Atem's in an intense staring contest.

"Okay, Okay. I think you two need sometime away from each other." Wicked Avatar's attention was stolen by Yami. Seeing the other shinigami that was his host's partner perfectly 'okay', baffled him greatly.

"How are you even alive? Let alone standing as if you weren't even dealt a fatal blow." Wicked Avatar asked in a rather brute way that did not suite Yugi's voice or appearance. His amethyst eyes were glued on Yami despite being a the mercy of a pissy Atem.

" Atem used his powers to heal me." The shinigami replied emotionless, as if it had happened countless of times. "It wasn't that bad so he was able to heal it, but he cannot heal stuff like that too much. It makes him... 'cranky'."

"Does not!" The older shinigami snapped, releasing Yugi as he stormed towards Yami. The younger shinigami's body landed on concrete below, with his back cushioning his fall. The scythe hissed loudly, though he watched Atem slap Yami's forehead softly. " I stresses me out. Every time I'm forced to use it, you're close to death! Understand now?"

"Yes-"

"Shinigami can die?" Wicked Avatar spoke up as he slowly stood on his feet, dismissing his weapon form. " I thought, you were already creatures who were dead. "

"Yeah, it's a death after death. Not a very pleasant thing to witness or go through." Yami shivered as he replied to Yugi. " The soul is fractured into pieces and slowly 'burns' away into nothing. Then the owner of said soul is completely erased from the world. "

"Their entire existence is forgotten, erased from the memories of their loved ones. The process is something that is scaring for those who have seen it, Yugi." The tanned shinigami added as he played with the ends of Yami's golden bangs.

The scythe who possessed Yugi's body, gave a soft nod to the two as he thought over the two older shinigami's words. " So they can die as well... interesting." The scythe mumbled. He blinked when he felt a cool water droplet fall on to his cheek. He reached up with his host's casted arm and wiped the wetness away.

"Looks like the storm's bottom is about to fall out. We better hurry to the hotel. " Yami told his partners, holding out his slender pale hand.

"Tch." The wicked avatar turned his head away from the older males, and crossed his host's arm over his chest. "Like I would stay in a room with you two mur-" The shinigami cut himself off with coughing. His body quaked, while his legs threatened to give out from underneath him. "D-Damn, I'm out of time already?" He hissed.

The Wicked Avatar could faintly hear Atem's and Yami's slightly concerned voice, while his control of Yugi's body was sipping away from him. He closed his host's eyes before falling to the ground. The warm air of Okinawa swirled around him, while he fell the short distance to the concrete. However, he never felt the collision of Yugi's body smacking the ground.

Instead, he felt two sets of warm arms wrapped around the shinigami's body, as he finally blacked out.

* * *

AR: This chapter was originally to be posted on April 14th, but due to my grandfather passing away on the thirteenth, you can see why it wasn't posted.  
I've also been busy with other things such as work, school, holidays, and ect. -w-

It was a very slow process writing, editing, and reading over this chapter.  
The chapter may seem a bit bleh. Jumping all over the place in an uneasy writing form. (I was not stable when writing! Sorry!)  
Also My mind drew a blank for Bakura's character this chapter... Blegh.  
He'll have more of his 'actual' personality in set the next time we see him.  
I don't believe he is as chaotic as most make him out to be.

Personally, I really love wicked avatar in general. More so than any other character.  
He is a little devil, and will always be a little devil.  
I did enjoy writing about how he was controlling Yugi, how he fought, his involvement with Atem and Yami.  
Oh, how I can not wait until later in my story, where it's revealed why he despises those two with a fiery passion! w  
The shock reviews from the readers, will be to die for. Alas, that's not until the distant future.

Speaking of reviews, I'm so happy how we already have twenty-five reviews for only three chapters. -squeals-  
So happy.  
Not to mention the 41 followers, and twenty-eight favorites. I feel so loved. ^-^

To express my happiness, and to share my love to you all; next chapter will have a treat for you guys!

Please leave a review! ~

* * *

Words &amp; Sentences translations and meanings. (Google was used, so this probably isn't the correct translations. )

anok-Ieb-mrwt - My heart's love.

Mrwt - Love.

Tenebrae, atque occultare coram nobis. Qui caecus esse moror, sed ab illis qui abeunt. - Darkness, cloak our bodies. He that is to be blind, are those who are not fated for death today. But we are seen by those who are.

Hac in hora, aperite portam. Iudicari animae duximus. Benedicite manserimus hic, dum operamur. Hic liber ab eius oneribus anima damnati.-At this hour, open the gate. We lead the soul to be judged. Bless those who remain here, while we work. And free this condemned soul from all its burdens.


	5. Chapter 5: Little Secrets

**Chapter Five**  
_**Little Secrets.  
**_

* * *

The air had a thick musky scent to it, a warm moist spicy scent that burned the nostrils of anyone who dared to breathe it in. However, it only added to the raw sexual tension between the two males that inhabited the elegant hotel room.

The sounds of needy moans, soft slurps, and the wet smack of the end of another needy heated kiss; filled the room. This was nothing new, in fact it was sort of a routine for the two. One Atem and Yami had been doing for eons, and both enjoyed every moment.

This wasn't their first fuck of the night, it was more like their third, possibly the fourth. It was hard to keep count when there was hands palming ever inch of bare skin in reach, lips interlocking, hips grinding together in a needy rhythmic pattern. All of it was adsorbed and turned into fuel to keep the lustful sensations going, even adding some more ravishing delights.

A deep throat moan was awarded to Yami when he latched his sinful lurking mouth against the faint highlight of Atem's jugular. He nipped lightly on the spot there, hands exploring the plump pectorals Atem had to offer, with feather light touches. Although it only bite him in the butt in the end, Yami loved to tease the Egyptian male that was turning into silly putty in his hands.

His pale knees were planted firmly on either side of Atem's hips, trapping the older male against the messy cream-colored satin sheets of the king sized bed below them. Something Atem didn't allow too often, though it seemed this round of love-making was an exception.

"Tired?" Yami's voice purred softly, shifting his position so he now sat snugly on Atem's well toned stomach. His hands still continuing the light touches to the Shinigami's chest.

"Are you kiddin' me? " He raised an eye brow at Yami, his maroon eyes dark with lust. " I still have enough in me to go all night. " His deep voice scoffed.

" Could have fooled me. You look like were giving in." Amusement was thick in Yami's voice and even shone in his crimson eyes. He leaned back down, placing a teasing kiss to the corner of Atem's lips. It was soft but had the raw fiery passion any intimate kiss could have contained.

A grunt from was the only warning Yami had before his back was on the bed and the Egyptian was hovering over him, a haunting smirk was plastered on Atem's face. At first, Yami tried his best to regain the control he once had over Atem. Though he had been with the older male to know all too well, that it wasn't going to happen a second time. Yami's hands went up to claw at the bronze shoulders above him but, they were pinned above his mess five spikes of black, crimson and blonde before his crimson eyes narrowed into slits gazing up at his capture who, was laughing lowly. " Now who's giving in, tight-ass?"

"My ass is not tight." Yami snapped at Atem sharply, his words were like a strike from a snake. But Atem, was immune to his poison.

"I beg to differ-" He leaned down, his nose running across Yami's neck." You've never fucked it, so there for you have no idea how 'tight' it actually is."

Yami tsked and turned his head to the side away from Atem's face. " I doubt it's that tight, seeing how you have a sex-drive that rival's Seto Kaiba's ego." He arched his back, flexing his long black feather wings as they started to creep out of their hiding place from in between his shoulder blades.

Although the action would stun most 'normal' people, it hardly phased Atem as he started assaulting his lover with light kisses and nips. Tasting the salty sweet skin Yami had to offer.

" Trying to spice things up? " The Egyptian humored, noticing the way Yami's body arched upward and spotting a black feathered wing growing to his right.

" No, my muscles were killing me." He answered coldly, twisting his wrist in the iron grasp of Atem's left hand. "Are you ever going to let me go?"

"Mmm, thinkin' about it." The older male's deep voice answered huskily. It sent chills down Yami's back, he never got enough of Atem's accent.

A displeased groan came from the younger male. "Fine, have it your way." He bucked his hips upward, pressing his and Atem's groins together before giving it a teasing roll.

This did little to lessen Atem's hold on his wrists it instead, did the opposite by tightening. The Egyptian Shinigami pressed his hips back against Yami's, while his lips removed themselves from the younger male's collar-bone. Using his right hand, Atem took a firm grip of Yami's chin and tilted his head back too look him in the eyes.

Fiery red met blood burgundy, both filled with heated lust and admiration. " Teasing me doesn't work, you know this already. So this means your impatient and-" Atem pressed his growing erection against Yami's hard on. He never finished his sentence, only smiling from ear to ear with pride.

The youth's face turned two shades of red darker than his own eyes. " Wipe that damn smile off your face, it's giving me the creeps. "

Yami noticed Atem rolling his eyes, before his chin was released and that lustful smile dimming down to a faint smirk.

That's when he felt it. The pleasurable feeling that shook through his entire body caused his cold façade to fall. "Jesus!" He hissed. Yami's toes curled while his body fidgeted restlessly underneath Atem. His wings fluttered, sending a few feathers into the air as their owner wallowed in pleasure.

Atem was smirking like a devil. His right hand had a tight grip on Yami's shaft. His wrist giving it unpredictable flicks, some slow while other were fast. The simple simulation was over whelming to youth's body, ripping low throaty moans from his core. "F-Fuck you."

"I'm getting there." Atem did little to hide his delight in teasing Yami, he nudge the other male's legs apart and nestled his hips there without disturbing his hand's up and down gliding motion on Yami's dick.

Yami groaned impatiently, bucking his slim hip into the older Shinigami's hand. " Well hurry it up, the faster the better-" He quickly silenced his words when his ears picked up a faint 'click'. His head turned towards the door, eyes widening slowly as he watched the door start to creep open.

The Shinigami could feel the warmth spreading across his cheeks, along with Atem preparing him for penetration.

Neither of them had thought of locking the door, especially with the threat of being walked in on, was little to none. Atem nor Yami had taken it in to consideration that Yugi, their rookie partner, would have woken up and venture from the couch they had placed him on in the living room. Neither figured he would wake up anytime soon, not from how exhausted his powers. But yet, here he was with his round amethyst-colored eyes wide as dinner plates with his odd colored spiky hair a mess.

"Atem! Get off-"

_'Whack!'_

"Son of a bitch!" The oldest of the three male growled in pain, hands flying up to the sore spot on the back of his head. His sharp maroon eyes were squeezed shut from pain.

It had been unexpected; one moment he was about to plow Yami into the bed sheets below them, and in the next he hit hard in the back of the head by a television remote. Atem was completely livid, here he was about to bust a nut and then the shrimp came waltzing in, disturbing the moment and hitting him with fucking T.V remotes. That brat was going to pay!

Atem had removed himself from hovering over Yami, hurdled off the bed without covering his nudity and charged straight towards Yugi. His deep red eyes set firmly on the smaller male as he stood just arms length away from the youth. " You better have a damn good reason for charging in here, if couldn't tell we were busy. "

Yugi said nothing, however his stunned gaze shifted from the deer-in-headlights look to a nasty cold glare that made liquid nitrogen look hot. His plump lips were pressed in a thin line as his eyes took turns shooting a glare from Atem to Yami. At least the winged Shinigami had the decency to cover his private-parts while Atem on the other hand, stood naked as a newborn baby.

The youngest of the three avoid in taking in the amazing view in front of him and simply held up five fingers belonging to his right hand.  
" Five minutes. You have five minutes to finish up, get dress and explain to me what the hell I just walked into. " His slightly high-pitch voice was dark and sharp as a butcher knife, leaving no space to argue,

Before Atem or Yami could try to object, Yugi had turned on his heel and exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Tension was thick in the air. So thick, one could practically cut it with a knife, while Yugi watched the two black winged Shinigami in front of him. His amethyst eyes displayed his anger vividly and confusions swarm violently in his cold gaze.

Atem and Yami had managed to finish their 'fun' and pull on their boxers. Both sported a pair of black Joe boxers, while they sat on the couch in front of their pissed partner; both were silent.

"Well?" Yugi broke the silence from a long ten minutes he had been gazing at the duo. Atem refused to meet his gaze during that time, stubborn as a jackass. While Yami watched Yugi with not a speck of emotion on his face. "Are you two going to explain why I woke up on a couch in god-knows-where, with the two of you. . .'doing it'? " He made sex sound so childish. Why couldn't he just have said fucking or sex like a normal teen who was almost considered an adult?

Atem tsked and cut his dark red eyes at Yugi, though he earned a sharp elbow in the kidney from Yami. The Egyptian kept quiet after that, nursing his side while send a cold and hurt look at his lover.

" Yugi, as long as you keep quiet about this, we'll clear this predicament up for you. "Yami's voice was flat, leaving no room to be argue with. He didn't even give Yugi a chance to reply and started to explain. " Atem and I, have a private relationship. It started at first for sexual pleasure only however, we developed feelings. You don't need to know anymore than that. "

He said nothing more but the away he portrayed himself, had Yugi forcing to keep his anger at bay. The new Shinigami was some-what of a pacifist. He refused to fight but, believed in some cases one needed to use violence to get the point across. And this, was no place to be throwing fists, especial just because he disliked someone's attitude.

"Okay." Yugi lifted his glare some-what, crossing his slender arms across his chest. "You haven't explained the second term, yet. How I ended up on the couch and-" The seventeen year old gestured to his nude form, with only his light blue Fruit-By-Thee-Loom boxer's keeping him from being exposed completely. " Where are my clothes? " He snapped.

" You're clothes along with ours, are drying in the dryer. I would hope you appreciate us a little for getting you out of them. If not you'll be waking up with the case of the sniffles and a nasty cough." Atem answered Yugi a bit bitterly as he used a hand to still rub the spot Yami elbowed him. " As for the couch thing, well we put you there when we came here. You passed out after turning into a Psychopath."

Yugi pouted slightly, he looked like a kid that was being taunted by an older sibling. " I wasn't a Psychopath, my scythe decided to use my body to get rid of the enemy. " He told the two, looking away. "It's not like I could stop him from going crazy, I actually encouraged him so I didn't get my ass kicked. " Yugi blew upward, causing the little blonde bang in between his eyes, to fly up.

Yami's eyebrow twitched slightly. " So, you allowed an insanely disturbed scythe with a conscious to control your body. Thus causing you to look like some maniac, distracting me from Bakura, and nearly letting me bleeding to death. Do you not have common sense!?"

"Actually Yami, you let your guard down all by yourself. It wasn't my fault or Jaakuna abatā's. That was all you. " Yugi casual stated blinking innocently.

The pale Shinigami was seething, his crimson eyes dart to Atem, as if he would defend him. "Well, he has a point. You did get distracted, Mrwt ." The Egyptian stated, giving Yami an apologetic look.

The crimson eyed teen sighed heavily, letting his eyes flutter close."Just...Just shut up before I do something rash, Atem."

" So that guy, Bakura right? Who exactly is he?" Before Atem could retaliate to Yami's words, Yugi was quick to jump topics. He may be having a rough start with the two men in front of him but, he wasn't about to let them fight because of something he said. Plus he was curious to know who Bakura was. Of course he knew the guy was with the Onmyouji, however he had a feeling Yami and Atem knew more about him then just that.

Silence filled the room once again, making Yugi feel as if his topic change wasn't the best choice. It only lasted a minute though, as Yami recollected his cool composure to speak without anger.

"Bakura is a Onmyouji, Yugi." The crimson eyed Shinigami informed Yugi. However Yami was surprised when Yugi simply nodded and looked at him like it was old news.

"Yami, I know that already." He informed the older male with a matter-of-fact tone of dialog. " I want to know more about him, though. He's out enemy so I'm sure the two of you know a little more about him. The fact you guys have knowledge of his name, means you know more than just the fact that he betrayed Sanctuary. " Yugi's observation skills weren't for waste; there was a reason when he was known as King of Games back when he was alive. He could win almost any game thrown at him; not from just dumb luck, but from his strategic abilities he gained from observing the other players and how they played the games.

Yugi nearly had a heart attack when his eyes locked with Atem dark maroon irises. It wasn't the first time this happened but how lively those gem like eyes displayed the Egyptian's bitter feeling for the Onmyouji, threatened to lash out at Yugi.

"Bakura isn't like the other traitors. No, he's one out of two we personally witnessed cross over to the 'dark side'. " Yugi broke his eye contact with Atem to look at Yami who barely manage to keep his hatred out of his angelic voice. It oddly made it even more appealing in Yugi's opinion. " Atem and I along with a few others, have known Bakura for a very long time. He wasn't the most friendly person in Sanctuary but, he wasn't the most hostile either. The reason why he became a Onmyouji still baffles me. He had a deep love for his partner, a fellow named Ryou."

"Bakura was Ryou's partner!?" Yugi's voice bellowed out in shock as he stood up from his seat on the sofa across from Yami and Atem's love-seat. He blinked his amethyst eyes and blushed lightly, re taking his seat while trying to cope with his embarrassment. "Sorry."

Yami completely ignored Yugi's out burst after it had occurred. "Yes, Ryou was Bakura's partner. However, that doesn't matter anymore. " The shinigami said sternly, his crimson eyes slipping close. "Bakura did something unforgivable. He even had Atem and I looking like saints after what 'he' did. " A playful smirk appeared on Yami's lips, however Atem didn't seem to find the comment amusing like Yami did. He was scowling at the light tan plush carpet under his feet, like it was a dog the had pissed on his shoes.

" That's not your tale to tell, Yami. " Atem softly hissed at Yami, his eyes giving the palest of the three a cold look. " Since the boy is with Ryou, he'll get told later. I do not doubt that."

" I wasn't planning on telling him the major details, just the basics." Yami defended himself, he casually used a hand to wave at Atem, silencing him. "Anyways Yugi, Bakura and another one of our 'comrades', decided to go out with a pretty big bang. The two of them along with their partners and us two-" Yami gestured to Atem and himself. " - had a joined mission. It was during the collections when they decided to strike. Bakura had almost killed Ryou, filling him with countless of holes. While Malik nearly decapitated his partner. It .. wasn't a pretty sight either, when Malik started to swallow his scythe and Bakura was licking the blood of his partner off of his scythe's blade. "

Yugi eyes were wide with dis belief. Ryou was almost killed for a second time? And by someone he trusted so much? Yugi felt his body quiver and wetness stinging in his eyes. He didn't know how to react. In fact, he felt sick to his stomach.

Yami leaned against Atem's side looking rather exhausted, before nudging the older male lightly. "You continue, you can sum it up shorter than I could."

Atem released a sigh, draping an arm over his lover's bare shoulder. " Lazy ass." He muttered before his maroon looked up at Yugi's amethyst hues. Atem couldn't help but wondered who the new recruit was trying to fool, by trying not to let his tears fall and look tough. He was failing miserably at attempting to look like the story wasn't affecting him.

"After the two had completely fallen, err, well when we thought they were; Yami contacted H.Q. while I attempted to distract them from finishing off their partners. It worked in the long run, I kept the two busy enough for Yami to heal the wounded and for the council to arrive. "

"Council?" Yugi sniffled, rubbing his nose as he tried to stop the liquid snot from running out of his nose.

"Uh, yeah the council of seven? Damn kid, don't you know a thing about them?"

Yugi shook his head, causing Atem to sigh heavily while Yami muffled his laughter at his lover's annoyance.

"The council of seven are who run Sanctuary, they only take orders from Horakhty and their commander. However, there is only five at the moment. One of the members is missing and so is the 'commander', well that's the rumor. Anyways, they council showed up just as I about finished those two off-"

"Ah ah ah" Yami interjected Atem's story, popping the Egyptian on the forehead. "You were worse than Ryou and Marik combined. Although you made a speedy recovery, you got your ass kicked."

The tanned Shinigami rolled his eyes mumbling under his breath. " Besides that, those two ran away the moment they spot Mahaad and Karim charging at them. I don't have clue were they ran off to, back then. However Bakura hasn't laid low as you can see but Malik on the other hand, hasn't been spotted in about a decade.

It was quiet after Atem finished telling Yugi the basic 'history' they had with Bakura. There was the occasional sniffling from Yugi as he tried to cease his runny nose but other than that, it was deprived of anyone talking. The youngest of the three Shinigami could feel his older partner's gazes on his smaller built. It was like they were waiting for him to speak or do something other than stare at the floor in disbelief.

Yugi allowed his mind to wander over the subject of Marik and Ryou having faced something so horrible. He would have to praise the two for being so strong for pulling through 'that'. Had it been him, Yugi knew he wouldn't have been able to be the same without a long time to recover.

Time... That reminded him, how long ago was that? How long have Atem and Yami known his first friend he made at Sanctuary? And how long have those two been partners and most importantly, how did they end up together?

Yugi lifted his gaze to look at his partners, his face looking puzzled and his lips were pursed with the unspoken questions he wanted to make verbal. Atem recognized this look and shook his head, burying his face into Yami's soft spikes.

"I'm not in the mood for a game of Twenty-One question, kid. " The Egyptian's voice spoke in a muffle tone. Yugi pouted at Atem's words. How did he know he was going to ask them more Question but, could anyone blame him? He knew hardly nothing and just wanted to be in the 'know' of the small group of friends he was acquiring in this 'dream'.

"You didn't even give me a chance to ask! I just wanted to know a few things about you guys." Yugi claimed whining slightly in hated how his superior denied him his right to ask his question.

"Well I, don't give a damn. I'm not answering any more questions and I don't want to hear another one." Atem's annoyance was clear in his voice, while he buried his face deeper into his lover's hair.

Yugi sighed and leaned back on the couch he was perched on. He slumped down into its softness, his amethyst eyes locked on to Yami's relaxed form and Atem's rigid one. He allowed his eyes to meet with Yami's uncaring ones, silently pleading him to allow him to voice his small interrogation.

". . . Fine, just a few of them. I'll answer a few and that's it. " Yami caved under the pressure of Yugi's desperate look. He earned a muffled groan from Atem for the slight weakness.

"Yes! " Yugi giggled in victory, eyes shining brightly like he was a kid who scored big on a new video game. He caused Atem to look up at him, the Egyptian Shinigami appeared confused by his youngest partner's glee. Yami however, smiled softly while shaking his head. It seemed the new guy, had a lot of energy despite being handicapped with a broken wrist.

" How long have you two known Ryou and Marik? " Yugi asked Yami with pure curiosity, his violet eyes brightly shinning at his two partners.

Yami didn't reply immediately, he was quiet as he closed his eyes and his eyebrows scrunched together in thought. Yugi found Yami's expression rather odd, did he really need to think that hard about this?

" We met about sixty. . . maybe it was seventy years ago. " Yami replied opening his eyes to look at Yugi with his blank emotionless face. " It's been a very long time, I don't tend to keep track of time much so it could have even been a little longer." He answered truthfully, sitting up straight in Atem's unbreakable embrace. "Next question."

"Okay." Yugi thought for a moment. " How long have you and Atem been partners?" He asked tilting his head to look at Atem's expression when the words left his lips. For some reason, Yugi thought he seen a flash of pain in those deep pools of red wine.

" The two of us have been partners since the year 1923, so about ninety years. " Yami answered with out missing a beat. Yugi notice how he glanced up at Atem, and it was the first time today he had seen Yami's features soften. He looked as if he was worrying over something that was unspoken.

" 1923. . .1923. . ." Yugi repetitively mumbled to himself, looking up at the ceiling while he tapped his chin with his right index finger. "But you passed in 1912? And Atem, he came to Sanctuary a long time before you, right? " Yugi looked puzzled as he kept his gaze fixed on the popcorn-sprayed ceiling above him. " How did you two become partners then?"

When the wingless Shinigami looked back at his partners, he instantly regretted it. Yami's body was completely tense, his bright crimson eyes threatening to send Yugi to his death with how they eyed him. What baffled him the most though, was Atem. He seemed completely fine; in fact, he was oblivious to his lover's death glare set on Yugi. When Yami didn't answer him, Atem actually spoke up for his pale look a like.

"I'm not sure. They just decided to stick us together." His deep baritone cords slowly soothed Yugi's nervous but, it wasn't enough to cool Yami's fiery death stare.

" But, that still doesn't really explain it. You guys must have had partners before each other-"

"Hey Atem, why don't you go get us something to eat? " Yami sharply interrupted Yugi, purposely silencing the boy. " We didn't get to eat before hand and I'm sure Yugi is hungry. I know I am." A deep forced alto toned laugh bounced around the open living-room of the hotel room.

"Um. . . Okay, I will but you can cut out the laugh. It's weird Yami." Atem told his older partner, standing from the couch and heading towards the single bedroom in the entire hotel room. "You don't have to laugh like you've lost it just to get me out of the damn room." The Egyptian muttered loud enough for his two partners to hear before shutting the door to the bed room.

Yami's demeanor was quick to change. It went from uncaring, to angry, to faked happiness, and finally to an extreme vexation. His crimson hues were glued on the bedroom's white door. Yugi thought if the man intensified his stare anymore, he would burn holes into the wood. He kept quiet, afraid to speak or even make a sound in the presence of 'this' Yami. It was like he was one step away from being mauled to death by a fierce shark.

Finally after five minutes of silence, Yami stood and disappeared down a hall before returning with a bundle of clothes. He chucked a few articles of clothing at Yugi rather hard, before entering the bedroom Atem had went into. Yugi released a sigh of relief, he finally felt like he could breathe. He looked down at the clothes Yami had thrown at him. His black sleeveless shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and light blue hoodie was laying on his lap.

Although the other Shinigami seemed rather angry about something Yugi had said, the new recruit would have to thank Yami for giving him his clothes. Standing Yugi quickly pulled on his shorts and shirt before laying his hoodie on the back of the hotel couch he had been sitting on. The seventeen year old looked around his surrounding. The room was rather plain, cream colors decorated the room and the only real color was the blue couch set and the dark cherry stained end tables.

Speaking of the end tables, Yugi spotted his purple soulphone and guide-book sitting on one just to his right. He snatched up his phone, pocketing the item before reaching for his guide-book next. He had one more question for Yami but with the way the older Shinigami was acting towards him, Yugi was positive he wouldn't get the chance to ask him. He would just search for it in the guide.

_'Human world...Human world... Aha!' _ Yugi found the section in his guide-book that he hoped, would explain why they could interact or be seen by humans. His amethyst hues scanned the pages reading briefly through it before he spotted the paragraph that cleared away all his questions about Shinigami interacting with humans.

_'Shinigami are still able to interact with the living. They can rent out hotel rooms, attend schools, converse with the living, and touch things with a physical form. However, when undercover in the human world, Shinigami need to conceal their powers and keep their wings hidden from view. For 'missions' Shinigami are required to wear their cloak provided to them from Sanctuary's Council of Seven. The cloak keeps from humans interfering with their work. Other than the ones that are dying or being granted a life, they can not be seen by humans when wearing the cloak. '_

Yugi hummed softly in approval. The cloak must have been the black one Yami had placed on him earlier. That made some sense, then. The two-day old Shinigami went back to reading, starting on the second paragraph involving interactions with humans. He was slightly curious about how things worked here.

_'Normal interaction with humans are very common in a Shinigami's job. There also may be times where a Shinigami may need to use the help of a human to locate their 'objective' if, that human was able to escape them. Some Shinigami even use their 'vacations' to live a short period of time acting like a human and socializing with them. Though, if a Shinigami comes in contact with someone from their life as a human; they are quickly returned to Sanctuary and placed on a 'lock down'. They remain on lock down until the human's mind is erased by another Shinigami or has ended. '_

Yugi closed the guide-book, not interested in reading any farther for the moment. He had a brief moment of thinking about going back to his school, seeing his friends, seeing Anzu when she graduated. He couldn't think about that though, it hurt too much. They idea of him never getting to graduate with his friends, and it hurt him to know that there was chance that Anzu could forget him.

A soft click caught Yugi's attention. Looking up from the book in his hands, he glanced to his right seeing the bedroom door swing open. Atem emerged fully dressed in the black leather pants and black spandex short-sleeved shirt he wore yesterday. Yugi also noticed his wings were gone. Even though he knew why they were hidden, he couldn't help but be slightly awed at the fact they were gone. Even when Yami appeared in his sour mood full dress in his attire from yesterday, the wing-less shinigami found it fascinating how his black wings were gone as well.

" I'll be back soon." Atem informed Yugi before he gave a soft peck to Yami's forehead.

"Okay, come back safely." Yugi uttered rather quiet, shrinking into the couch slightly. He really did not want to be left alone with Yami and the way he was acting. The youngest Shinigami had no idea why the older male was even acting that way, all he did was ask how he and Atem became partners-

"Do you still want to know ?" Yami's voice was cold as ice, jutting Yugi out of his thoughts. The violet eyed boy looked around, noticing Atem had already left them.

The younger male bit his bottom lip softly, nodding in reply. " I wouldn't mind knowing " Yugi answered timidly, he kept his gaze away from Yami. He wasn't sure if he could face the other Shinigami's crimson glare.

" Fine then." Yugi felt the spot on the couch next to him dip down from added weight. "I'll tell you. "

* * *

" Atem and I met in 1922, that is when Atem awakened as Shinigami. " Yami started off, his voice bitter.

Yugi watched the male out of the corner of his eyes, observing how tense Yami's body was and how his crimson eyes kept their gaze on his pale hands. He kept quiet for a moment, thinking Yami would continue. But he didn't.

"The profile on Atem said he was born sometime 3,000 B.C. How could he-"

"We, don't know Yugi." Yami interrupted Yugi before he even ask his question. " The day I found Atem, I was running an errand for Mahaad. I was taking a short cut and that's when I found him. He was out cold, wings exposed and covered in odd clothes that was bloodied. He had no wounds from what I could tell so, I abandoned my errand and took him to Isis. " Yami paused to take a deep breath before he released it in a heavy sigh.

"He woke up a week later. Unfortunately, Atem had no memory. It was like someone had cleared his mind of everything, he couldn't even tell us his name at the time. Were it not for Shada and the 'key', we wouldn't have even discovered his name. "

Yugi didn't bother to say anything when Yami paused again. He kept silent while he let the words sink in to his mind. He could hardly picture what Atem felt when he woke up. He knew the older shinigami had to be scared, the was a given. Possibly he was confused and hostile. He could see that with the older male's personality.

" And that is all you need to know. " Yami said abruptly. " He manage to pull through and the Council of Seven stuck him with me a few months later. He's even manage to become a better Shinigami then me. "

Yugi looked at Yami like he was insane. That was all he needed to know? Just the fact one of his partners has no memory of his past and now his skill surpassed his other partner's? No, Yugi did not like that at all, he wanted to know more about the two.

"Can you at least tell me a little more? Like how he recovered or even felt? Maybe why the Council decided to place him with you? If you don't want to, I could ask the man himself. " Yugi suggested.

"No." Yami articulated sharply. "I said you don't need any more information and that, is final Yugi. Don't even mention this around Atem, please."

Yugi was confused. He wasn't a fool, he knew it would be rude to ask Atem out of the blue about something that probably was painful to remember. But why did Yami sound so 'exhausted when he asked him not to say anything around Atem? That's what didn't make sense.

"I won't mention it. " Yugi stated and held out his pinky towards Yami. "Pinky swear."

The younger male watched as his superior eyed his little finger then glance up at him with cold crimson eyes. He had a look that just screamed '_Are you serious?',_ before Yami's longer pinky curled around Yugi's and gave it one firm shake. "You better keep your word."

Yugi flashed Yami a warm grin as he took him up on his promise. " I will Yami, I don't break pinky swears. If I do, well you get to break my pinky. "

"Yugi, I'll break more than just your pinky." The older Shinigami foreshadowed standing up from his perch on the couch. " I'll break what little sanity you have, bit by bit so you know what Atem feels like when he's forced to recall nothing about his past. " Yami bent down so his face was level with Yugi's. " Asking Atem about this would be like someone asking you to give them the details about how it felt when that train collided with your body." He bluntly stated.

Yugi stiffened his eyes displaying his fear at Yami's words. "How do you know that?" His voice was unstable, breaking in places and raising slightly in others.

The smaller male's fingers curled into a tight fist as his body shook. He hadn't forgotten his death but, Yugi had kept it locked away in the back of his mind. He wanted to think that all of this was just a dream but that memory, was proof it wasn't. It was proof this was a nightmare, one he was living in. He closed his eyes willing away the very the images of his death. He could feel the dam in his mind starting to crack until finally, it broke.

"Why do you know that!?" Yugi screeched at Yami, as he scouted away from him like the other Shinigami was a demon. No he wasn't just a demon, he is a demon. Eyes the color of blood, and wings black as night. Yami was a demon and this was his hell.

Yugi used both his hands to grab a handful of his hair and tug, he put his feet in between him and Yami. His eyesight became blurry as tears started to pool in his eyes. He kept his fearful gaze on Yami, backpedaling away from him when he tried to get closer towards Yugi. "No, no! Leave me alone! Don't touch me, don't come near me!" The wingless Shinigami sobbed as he tried to avoid Yami from touching him.

When the older Shinigami didn't stop his pursuit, Yugi screamed as if his life depended on it. "Stop it! Please! I don't want to know, I don't! It's not real, it's not real!" He was frantic, falling off the couch and crawling in to a corner in the room, farthest from Yami.

It appeared that his screaming was able to do something, seeing how Yami only turned towards but stayed where he was. Yugi tried to keep his sobs at bay, even though his tears were already streaming from his eyes and snot was starting to dribble from his nose. He sniffled a few times, shaking in pure fear. as he gazed at Yami. "I-I. . .I-I'm not dead. I'm n-not." His voice quivered as Yugi's body shook.

he heard as sigh and watched as Yami shoved his hands into the pockets of his black leather pants. " None of us are. We just had an 'upgrade' in life." Yugi could tell his partner was struggling to keep cool.

Yugi's amethyst gem like eyes watched as Yami headed towards the same hallway Atem had went down when he was leaving. The nicely built shinigami paused just at the end of the hallway, turning to cast his normal emotionless gaze at Yugi. " Hold on to that feeling Yugi, use it as a reminder that you're alive. Because you know, if you are dead, you can't feel anything at all. Nothing." With those words Yugi watched Yami disappear down the dimly light hallway, before leaving out the hotel room's door.

When Yugi was sure Yami was gone and not coming back, he unleashed his flood gates. If he looked like a little kid even before he was crying, he definitely appeared to be one now as he bawled like no grown man should have. Here he was seventeen years old, bawling like a two-year old just because one person knew how he died other than the girl name Rebecca and Mai. It was ridiculous and embarrassing.

Trying to man up some what, Yugi rose to his knees. He pulled out his purple soulphone, unlocking the touch screen with an unsteady swipe of his left index finger. He held the phone in his right hand while he wiped his eyes dry with his fiberglass purple cast, ignoring the burning sensation his nerves threatened him with when the rough texture of the cast rubbed his skin.  
With the tears out of his eyes, Yugi pulled up his contacts searching through the few numbers until he finally found the one of the person he trusted the most since his arrival in Sanctuary. He tapped the screen softly before placing the phone to his ear as he waited for Ryou to pick up.

"Hello?" The sleepy voice of the friendly albino, suddenly brought on a new round of tears in Yugi's eyes.

"R-Ryou, I'm sorry for waking b-but I really need your help."

* * *

Yugi couldn't have been more relieved to be back in Sanctuary. Out of the three days he's been living in the small utopia, the place oddly started to feel like his home. Even more so when he sported Ryou in the garden outside H.Q. That was when Yugi darted away from his partners.

He hadn't spoken a single word to them since Yami left him alone. Even when Atem came back with breakfast, Yugi refused to speak and at in silence. He had nothing to say to them, that was the truth.

Maybe that's why when he darted to his friend, he heard Atem mumble something out of surprise as he sprinted past him. But Yugi didn't care. His only focus was getting to Ryou, calming down, then getting some much-needed rest in his own room.

"Ryou!" Yugi called out as a brief warning before he collided with the British white-haired male, hugging his tightly so he didn't knock his friend over from their collision.

"Ah! There you are Yugi." Ryou wrapped his arms gently around Yugi, stepping back to keep his balance steady. His soft brown eyes gazed down at the new Shinigami who was hiding his face in his chest. So many questions were in his mind from what caused is new friend to become so...so upset.

Ryou lifted his soft gaze to look towards Yugi's partners, he locked eyes with Yami and shook his head in disapproval. He would ask the pair of fools later for their side of the story. If anything, Ryou figured Atem's mouth got out of hand and cause Yugi unnecessary pain.

"All right, let's go somewhere to talk about why you called me at Five-Twenty in the morning." The albino like make told Yugi with a gentle smile, prying him off his torso.

"Yeah,. . . sorry about that." Yugi apologized in a weary voice as he removed himself from Ryou and followed the whited haired male to where-ever their destination was.

Said destination ended up being a french café called Délices de chocolat. Although Yugi settled on calling the place 'Heaven' since he could hardly pronounce the cafe's name, and the chocolate cake Ryou had ordered him was to die for. Well if he wasn't already dead. He didn't want to vanish from everyone's memories over cake.

Yugi had just put another forkful of the delicious sweet into his mouth, when Ryou cleared his throat and sat up a little bit straighter. Yugi blinked his violet eyes and looked up from his cake to gaze at Ryou.

"Are you enjoying your cake?" The British Shinigami asked with a smile, his gentle doe brown eyes sparkling happily.

"Mhmm! It's amazing, thank you again Ryou. " Yugi replied after he had swallowed his mouthful, and wiped the chocolate from his mouth with a paper napkin.

" That's good. Shall we get down to business, now?"

Yugi took a sip of his water before nodding. " Sure." The Shinigami with gravity defying hair folded his hand in his lap, gazing down at them as he thought about where to start off.

" It all started after I went to Mahaad's -"

"Lord Mahaad." Ryou corrected Yugi.

"Um, right." He looked at his smiling friend rather oddly, before continuing. " It happened after I went to Lord Mahaad to speak to him about my scythe. He had helped me with achieving it but, apparently I have a rebellious one. He likes to take control of my body when ever he pleases and he even attack Atem and Yami. They nearly killed me because of him and he even broke my wrist!" Yugi held up his casted left arm for Ryou to see.

" So that's how it happen!" The British boy sounded as so excited about the new information.

"Yeah, it was a pain, and my scythe is a pain. " Yugi groaned. He half expected to hear a rude comment come from his scythe but oddly, his mind was silent.

" Continuing." Yugi sat up in his chair and gazed directly at Ryou.

The wingless Shinigami continued to inform his friend about his first day with his partners and his first mission, which he was kindly informed was because Ryou had request Atem and Yami's help with the collection since, he and Marik already had too much to deal with that night. Perhaps it turned out to be for the better.

"So you didn't take well to how we have to act towards the rekion?" Yugi shook his head at Ryou's question. Of course he didn't.

"But that's not the worse part, after the mission we encountered a Onmyouji." Yugi spoke in a hushed tone. He watched as Ryou stiffened slightly before leaning forward.

" D-Did you. . .Do you by chance know his name?"

Yugi hesitated. He wasn't sure if he should tell Ryou he knew who Bakura was, or wait until he was told by Ryou himself. After all he had only known the guy for a day or two.

"No, I didn't. " The younger Shinigami lied as he looked out the window." I actually don't remember much about it. Yami said the Onmyouji attacked me and I blacked out. " Yugi looked down at the table and picked up his fork so he could play with what little was left of his cake.

"Oh." Yugi lifted his eyes up to Ryou, watching as the white-haired boy relaxed a little. " It's a good thing your safe and no harm came from the encounter. "

Yugi nodded in agreement with his friend's statement. He turned his attention back to playing with his cake, unsure how to continue their conversation. Finally Yugi decided to et some of the food he was playing with, while he felt Ryou's chocolate-brown eyes locked on him.

"I take it when you woke up, it wasn't so pleasant." The older male's British accent eased away some of Yugi's unsettling nerves.

"Bingo." Yugi spoke after he swallowed the small bit of cake. "I woke up to Yami and Atem having sex."

"YOU WHAT?!" Ryou yelled as he bolted up from his chair out of shock, nearly scaring Yugi. "I cannot believe those two. . .two wankers did something like that! Especially in the presence of another! No wonder you called me so early in the morning, out of all the things to wake up to. "

" I know." Yugi groaned leaning back in his chair. " I had so many conflicting emotions, I ended up throwing a television remote at Atem. He was pretty pissed."

"Well the bloody arse deserved it, he and Yami need to learn to tame their sex drives!" Ryou snapped rather angrily. The slight shorter Shinigami was actually surprised that his friend had his feather's so ruffled up over the matter. Literally. Ryou's light gray wings were extend to their full wingspan of 5'6" and the feathers were frazzled.

" Yeah he did, and I think you should settle down a little Ryou. Your um. . .wings are a bit. . . " He unsure how to describe it words but Ryou seemed to know what Yugi was talking about.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry." He quickly retracted his wings, letting the elegant gray feather wings go back into hiding. The British male sat down looking quite embarrassed as he noticed the few stares he was getting from the other customers on the café. "Please, carry on Yugi."

By the time Yugi finished telling Ryou the rest of the events that happened, excluding the part about Bakura and Mailk; the two had changed subjects. When they finished speaking, it was already sunset. By that time he was despite to get back to his room and take a much-needed bath. Yugi gave Ryou a simple goodbye, after the other male informed him he had to go see Jou and Seto.

Jounochi and Seto Kaiba, with those two Yugi could on admire how strong Jou was. During their talk, Ryou had informed him about the condition of Jou's partner Seto. They too had been affected by the Onmyouji. As a result, Seto was in coma like state. For how long, Yugi didn't know but by how Ryou had spoken of him, it had been a very long time since he was last awake. The new Shinigami could only hope and pray that Jounochi's partner pulled through this and woke up with no problems. He could only hope.

Yugi already knew he was on the brink of insanity from all the events he's been through in the past three days. In fact, Yugi was mentally exhausted. He could hardly even keep his mind from wondering about his death anymore.

So when he saw the dreaded purple journal, the one only he could see and magical 'disappears' on his mess bed. Yugi wasn't even shocked, he merely thought that he just imagine the damn thing when he was exhausted. Maybe it was because he was too tired to care, that he simple plopped down next to the journal. Before laying back on his soft bed. Oh, how he missed his bed.

He wasn't sure how long he just simply laid there with his eyes closed as the tension in his body slowly ebbed away. Yugi did know, he didn't really care for how much time had passed. Rolling over on to his stomach, Yugi took the purple journal into his hands. He rubbed his hand over the cover, feeling the odd warmth that radiated from the smoothed cover.

The familiar curiosity he was born with made Yugi stare at the journal in amusement. He quickly opened the cover finding a few lines of writing in the odd book:

_'Hello there my dear child, I see you've finally opened up the journal have granted you as a special gift. I'm glad you've overcome thinking your insane because only you can see this journal. No worries though, we all have a little insanity in us. Getting to the point, this journal allows you my dear Yugi to speak with me, Madame Horakhty, directly._

_I will not tell you how it works, just know you can ask me anything through these pages. Simply write your question and I shall respond the next day. It doesn't have to be questions either, if you want you can just say hello and carry out a friendly conversation with me, I do enjoy those. I hope to hear from you soon, Yugi. '_

The wingless Shinigami looked down at the page in utter disbelief. There was no way, no way he could talk to someone through a book. Then again. . . this was Sanctuary, the people here had wings.

**_'All but you.~'_**

Yugi rolled his eyes as his scythe made his appearance, there was no point in answering him seeing how he would only try to start a fight. Picking up the journal, Yugi decided to test it. If he checked it again tomorrow and he had a reply to his question, then he ma just believe that it really did allow him to speak with Horakhty. But until then he would remain in disbelief. He needed proof.

Yugi looked inside one of his desk drawers for a pen, instead he found a black fine tipped sharpie. _'I hope this doesn't bleed through.'_ He silently thought as he pressed the fine tip marker to the delicate paper and began to write his question.

* * *

**_Author's Ramble:_** Okay, the truth for why this was so late was because I caught writer's block.  
My beta also decided to take his sweet time proof reading this and the other chapters with me.  
I kind of lost it towards the end. I had a plan then it just poofed. =n=  
But, I found out that Cheez-its and Orange Kool-aid help me think when I'm lost for words. :'D

I've edited all the previous chapters, made a few changes. Mostly in chapter two.  
I had to fix Yami's age, and a few things Mai said. It, at first, didn't fit my story line when I re-read it. So it had to be fixed.

Finally, I've discovered an old fanfiction I had posted on an old account of mine that I ended up deleting, after I switched accounts.  
I forgot how much I loved the story-line, so once I go over it again I'm thinking about re-posting it. Of course, that will be after I finish my other story, it's only like ten chapter's long maybe tewelve.

Please tell me what you guys think of the story so far.  
Thank you for the lovely support, please continue to read, review and follow.  
Look for an update soon! :')


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